


Pondovadia: World I Love, Tears I Drop

by Cherry_Bomb_Bees



Series: Pondovadia [1]
Category: Original Work, Pondovadia
Genre: 3000s, Alternate Universe- No Humans, Attempted Murder, Babysitting, Birthday Chapter, Broken Bones, Carnival, Cliffhangers, College Football, Concerts, Cosplay, Courtroom Chapter, Cults, DNA Testing, Dirty Jokes, Drinking, Drug Use, Euthanasia, Ferris Wheels, Festivals, Field Trip, Future Fic, Halloween, Hockey, Hospitals, Illegitimacy, Is That a Jojos Ref, MST3K References, MST3k-Style Riffing, Minor Character Death, Multiple Genres, Murder Mystery, Other, Press and Tabloids, References to Def Leppard, Science Experiment, Speciesism, State Emergency, Subway Fight, Talking Animals, Teen Movie Parody, Trains, Tranquilizers, Travel, Unconsciousness, Underage Drinking, Weed Hunting, West Virginia, Winter Break, anthros, beatrice is a jerk, city life, coffeeshop, flood - Freeform, lockdown - Freeform, new kid at school
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:01:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 80,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24327712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cherry_Bomb_Bees/pseuds/Cherry_Bomb_Bees
Summary: Three furry middle schoolers and their adventures throughout the city of Pondovadia, West Virginia. Now featured on TV Tropes.Status: Finished. Part 2 will be up in two weeks.
Series: Pondovadia [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1762597
Kudos: 23





	1. Life’s a Kick in This Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After winning a raffle, Bell and her two best friends find a hidden secret of the city in their local lake.

———————————

July 24, 302X

What is it that makes Pondovadia, West Virginia a city unlike any other in the Appalachia region? Is it the harmonious blend of human past yet animal presence? Could it be the combination of sleek architecture and spiraling nature of flora? Perhaps it’s the delightfully eccentric animal residents who liven up the current state capitol. Let’s see what some of these residents are up to.  
———————————

Three children were hanging out that afternoon in one of the downtown apartments. They were sitting together on the bed and talking amongst themselves about who knows what. A phone went off on the grey nightside table.

The cyan blue North American beaver immediately hopped off the bed and grabbed her phone. She held the phone up to her right ear.

“Alright! What the fuck is up?” the girl happily greeted whoever was on the line. All she heard on the other end was some shuffling.

One of the other kids, a red ferret in a green tunic, shook his head and crossed his arms. The other kid, a yellow turtle chimera in a sleeveless grey hoodie, chuckled to himself in amusement.

“Bell, it's a pyramid scheme. Don’t bother with it” the ferret snarked.

Bell turned around to roll her eyes and went back on the line as she finally heard someone else pick up.

“Hi, is this Isabell Woodrow?” the chirpy voice asked.

“Yeah?” Bell looked confused as she stayed on the line. Her two friends looked at each other in confusion.

“Yes, we’re with the Pondovadian Touristry Division. You won the drawing we held last week, congratulations” the silky hen on the line explained to her. “You and two friends get to go on a trip to the Lake of the Unknown Knotts!”

Bell gasped and nearly dropped her phone in excitement. Her eyes glittered in excitement.  
“Are you kidding!!”

“Oh no, I’m not kidding,” the woman on the line continued. “Your tour of the Unknown Knotts is this Friday at three o'clock, and your tour pass number is 7347. See you then!” she hung up.

The beaver widely grinned before shoving her phone into her pocket. She jumped back onto the bed in excitement.

“Ponce, Toshi, can you guys believe it?!?!?!” Bell was beaming in joy.

“Of course we’d believe it,” Ponce, the gold and purple turtle chimera, laughed in amusement. “I saw you spam the mailing list”

Toshi, the pinkish-red ferret, tilted his head. “She did what now?”

“Oh yeah" Ponce choked a bit on his laughter.

Bell facepalmed in embarrassment. “Toshi, why the hell does it matter, we won anyways”

———-  
July 27

The Deutschendorf Forest, named after a prominent folk singer of the nineteen seventies. One of West Virginia's beautiful state forests that maps two counties in the northern area. Monongahela University, the most prominent public land-grant university of West Virginia, manages half of the trailing forest while the other half is maintained by the Appalachia commission.

It was an exciting Friday down by the Deutschendorf Forest. Fourteen animals had gathered at a large patch of grass near the dusty brown shores.

Bell, Ponce, and Toshi checked their belongings to make sure they were safe. Toshi carefully placed his belongings into his pastel pink messenger bag, Bell crammed her junk into the bottom of her Monongahela University drawstring bag, and Ponce sorted his stuff at the bottom of his simple black backpack.

A pastel pink giraffe in a polo shirt was talking to a moss green opossum in a short sleeved brown hoodie.  
“I’m telling you, Cedar, that kid over there looks like that girl from our creative writing class last spring” he whispered to his friend as he adjusted his Oakleys.

Cedar shook his head. “Which girl?”

“You know, the beaver with the big tits” the giraffe said before getting a glare. “I mean, the bun. Klarisse, I think? You go ask her”

“Fine,” the opossum flipped off his friend and walked over to the kids. “Hey, so, do you guys know a girl named Klarisse?” he asked them.

The three children looked upwards at the marsupial before them.

“Klarisse?” Ponce tilted his head and raised an eyebrow.

Toshi whispered to Ponce before getting flipped off by him. “Don't amuse him, he’s obviously trying to find a girlfriend”

“Yeah, she was in creative writing with me last spring over at Monongahela” Cedar sheepishly explained. He had one hand behind his head and the other in his gold Mon Uni jacket pocket.

“My older sister?” Bell said to him.

Cedar turned around to yell at his friend. “I told you these kids knew her, Glenn”

“Is she single?” Glenn hollered back to the opossum.

Bell, Ponce, and Toshi looked at each other then facepalmed from the careless yelling.

“I tried to tell you guys, but neither of you listened to me” Toshi harshly whispered to his friends.

Before Bell had a chance to offer a fake number to the desperate possum, a tall rainbow trout in a comfy beige guide uniform walked up to the group and cleared his throat. He spoke into the microphone in his flipper.  
“Alright everybody, welcome to the Unknown Knotts tour! My name’s Don Van Maskrep and I’ll be your guide for the day. Anyone have any questions before we go on a tour? Yes, you in the black tank top”

A silverback gorilla lowered his arm. “Is it true there’s several dead bodies in the lake?”

Mr. Maskrep shifted his eyes away from the ape and shrugged.  
“I’m not sure, it’s against company policy to confirm such information”

After the question had been answered, everyone climbed into a white square tour boat and took their seats. Bell, Ponce, and Toshi sat together on a bench and got comfortable. Don Van positioned himself at the front of the boat and spoke again into his microphone.

“As you can see here, the Lake of the Unknown Knotts is quite large for a lake” He rattled on his facts about the area. “It was named after legendary actor Don Knotts of the Human Era, as he was a local from this area”

Toshi rolled his eyes and whispered “Why should we care about what a bunch of humans did?”

“Tell me about it” Bell snarked under her breath as Ponce smirked.

Behind them, the silverback gorilla and his snow macaque wife looked down at the children and shook their heads.

As the tour guide salmon continued to rattle on, unaware of a salamander and dart frog couple taking excessive photos from the view, he heard a loud splash from nearby the boat.

“What the—“

Bell lept from her seat to see where the splash came from. She tried to lean over and see the commotion, but Ponce grabbed her by the waist to pull her away from falling in.

“Hey! Let me go” she squirmed in his arms before being let go. “Did you guys see it?!”

Toshi tilted his head in confusion. “See what?”

“There’s something in the water!” she pointed over the boat and tried to explain. “It was pink, and small, and—“

“You’re just seeing things, Bell” Ponce laughed, crossed his arms, and sat back down. "I think you might've gotten into some Mon Uni kid's weed stash"

Bell sighed in annoyance. She knew damn well there’s something living in that lake.

The boat rocked as something slammed against the bottom. A few of the animals there gasped while others just shrugged it off like no big deal.

“This isn’t supposed to happen,” Don Van said to himself as he held onto the edge.

Underneath the surface of the water, two larger seals were pulling a small pup farther away from the surface and deeper to the lake floor.

“Minthe, my darling, just what in the hell were you thinking?!?!” the dark teal seal scolded his daughter as he looked down at the floor.

“F-father, I was—“ Minthe was trying to defend herself before being cut off.

Her mother furiously glared from the side. “We’ve told you over and over again. Stop going to the forbidden surface because you could get us taken away forever”

The pup whined a bit. “But I heard a new box up there! It looked weird, mom! And I wanna know what it is”

“It’s a box sent from hell, Minthe” her father bluntly said. “It sees us underwater folk and takes us away in more ways than you can imagine. You don’t want to end up number fourteen, do you?”

Minthe swallowed her own spit and looked down. “No….”

“That’s right. Because if only one of us ends up taken away, you will end up number fourteen” her mother threatened her and grabbed her arm harder than before. “Do not go to the bad place”  
————

After the Unknown Knotts tour had concluded, the three children went back onto the shuttle, stopped at the Pondovadia Rail Transportation system, and travelled back to their block on the Thirty-Eight Route.

“That tour was kinda boring, but at least it was free” Toshi wagged his tail as he walked down the street.

Ponce shook his head and checked his phone for anything new. “Yeah”

“I don’t know what you guys are on, but I wanna go back” Bell said to her friends. “I have to see what that thing in the water was!”

“Bell, you’re clearly the one on something” Ponce laughed and slapped her upper back. “Hey, maybe you can give us the stuff you’re on too!”

“Oh shut up already!!” Bell snorted in amusement.  
——————  
July 28, 302X

The alarm app on Bell’s phone beeped hard in the small apartment. She looked at her phone and turned off the alarm. It read 5:25 AM, Saturday, July 28 in bright blue text.

“Ugh….” Bell groaned to herself in exhaustion. She crawled off her mattress and pulled her usual outfit out of a box: an orange raglan tee with white sleeves, a brown bandanna, pink knee-length shorts, orange slip-on sneakers, and short white socks with pink trim. After changing out of her fuzzy white jumpsuit and tying her hair back into a ponytail with a big brown bow, Bell grabbed her bag off the floor and headed out for the day.

She stepped outside alone and looked around at the city surroundings. The sky was pitch black except for a few twinkling stars. The towering skyscrapers were a plain grey and the windows were dull and lacking life. All Bell could hear in that moment was the humming of cars driving down the road.

I know I have to do this, Bell thought to herself as she walked down the empty streets.  
The beaver got onto the nearby subway station, inserted her school ID in the card reader, and climbed aboard the subway. She shuddered from the eeriness of being the only animal on at the time. The only lighting inside was the lights on the ceiling and the only voice she heard was an automated voice recording.

“NOW HEADING TO THE UNKNOWN KNOTTS STOP. PLEASE STAY SEATED AND YOU WILL ARRIVE AT YOUR DESTINATION”

After what felt like hours, but was really only twenty minutes, the Thirty-Eight route slowly stopped at Unknown Knotts.

Bell got off of the subway and landed on the pavement. The smooth texture felt odd on the soles of her sneakers, but she shrugged it off internally.

“I have to find what that was” Bell thought to herself as she walked alone in the dark to the Lake of the Unknown Knotts.

Once reaching the iconic lake, the girl stepped into the sand and trudged over near the shore. She saw a few lake shells sparkle nearby. A loud splash was heard from the middle of the lake, along with a twinkle in the middle.

“Hellooooooo!!!! Is there anybody in there?!” Bell called out to the lake.

Another splash and more sparkles rose from the middle.

“Just nod if you can hear me!” she yelled out to the lake.

There was the sound of something paddling in the water. It grew louder as it reached the coast. Bell flinched and closed her eyes as she heard it coming closer. If this was going to be how she would die, well, she lived a nice life and hopefully have all her classmates attend her funeral and scatter her ashes somewhere pleasant.

“Hello?”

A high-pitched voice called from the surface. Bell slowly opened her eyes and saw what was calling to her. It was a little teal seal with pale pink shoulder length hair, shiny green eyes, and a lavender crown adorning her head. Or at least, she thought it was one.

“Oh, hey!” Bell got on her knees and looked over at the animal before her. “Are you what I saw yesterday on that boat?”

“What’s a boat?” the seal tilted her head and frowned slightly.

Bell was surprised. This girl looked to be around her age but had no idea what a boat was.

“It’s what animals like me use to go to your lake” the beaver tried to explain as easily as she could. “Do you own this lake?”

The seal pup was confused “I can own a lake?”

“Maybe you can, but I don’t know” Bell shrugged then smiled. “My name’s Bell, what’s yours?”

“My name is Princess Minthe!” Minthe excitedly wagged her tail in the freshwater lake. “I’m the one and only princess of the Court of Epitaph! Do you wanna see my court?”

“I don’t know if I can, I can’t breathe underwater as well as most beavers do” Bell frowned a bit. “How about tomorrow?”

“Yes! Bell! I’d love that!” Minthe grinned in happiness. “I’ve never seen other animals enter my court before!!”

This was awesome, Bell thought to herself. “Hey, uh, I have to go get ready now. I’ll see you later!”

“See you!” Minthe waved as she saw Bell get off her knees and walk away from the lake. The young seal never had any visitors before!  
—————  
Just as she was about to duck down underwater, Minthe felt two strong hands forcefully yank her down by the tail and drag her away. Minthe’s crown fell off her head and floated on the surface and washed up towards the sandy beach.

“Hey!” she cried out in surprise and looked down. Two stern black and blue orcas in makeshift military uniforms were dragging her deeper to the lake bed. Their silence made Minthe shiver from how cold it was.

Once reaching the ‘court’, both orcas tossed the pup over to her parents.

“Scarlett, Venice” the taller orca bluntly said to his superiors. “We have Number 14, it’s safe with us. We saw it try to escape us”

The rich red seal sitting on her throne nodded without a care. “Thank you, Seamus. Excellent job, Shelley. You are off duty now”

Both orcas swam off from the throne room and to the surface, keeping an eye for visitors.

“You little bastard!” Scarlett snarled and yanked her daughter by the arm. “What the fuck were you thinking of doing?!?!”

“Mother, please, I—“ Minthe tried to reason with her tyrant of a mother.

“Don’t fucking speak to us unless we speak to you, smartass!” Venice jabbed his finger into her face. “Are you trying to get us taken away, is that it?!”

“N-no, dad—“ the pup was shaking in fear. “I just wanted to-“

“We do everything for you, Minthe!” Venice began to rant. “We keep you safe in our Court, we have guards for us, and this is the thanks we get. This is not what Mother wanted of us, Scarlett! She wanted our grandkids safe!”

“I know it’s what Mother wanted” Scarlett was trembling and began to shed crocodile tears. Her lover swam over and massaged her shoulders. “If only she was even alive!!!”

“I-I’m sorry….” Minthe coughed out and looked away for a second. “I won’t try to get to the surface”

“You better not, you little bastard, or you WILL be number fourteen this time” Venice snarled in fury at his child. “Now get the fuck out of here and head to your room. _**Now**_ ”

The pup looked down in defeat and headed to her miserable bedroom. She tried to close it but the door was jammed. Of course, Minthe thought to herself. They ripped out the lock and handle after she choked on algae during dinner last year. It was only a tiny lug of a plant, she thought to herself.

——————-

Just as Bell made it back to the subway, she saw and heard her phone buzzing. 6:37 AM, the clock read. She picked up the phone and answered the call.

“Bell?!?! Are you alright?!?!” the older voice on the phone called out to her. “Where are you? I couldn’t find you all morning!”

“I’m alright, Klarisse!” Bell reassured her older sister as she walked over to her apartment complex. “I just went to this lake nearby! Hey, why are you awake already?”

Klarisse snarked. “It’s none of your damn business, that’s what! Ha, just kidding. The next door neighbors were screwing again and they were loud”

“Eww! The Nelsons?” Bell cringed as she entered the lobby. “Anyways I’ll be home soon”

“That’s what I wanted to hear from you!” Klarisse replied. “I’m going back to bed then”

She hung up the phone and shoved it back into her pocket. Bell walked into the elevator and pressed the 8th button. She walked down the aisle until she saw a sign reading ‘Complex 8L1-5, and knocked on the door.

A tall pale blue beaver with messy brown hair and a dark green night dress opened the door. She looked down at her little sister.

“Oh, there you are” Klarisse deadpanned. Bell walked into the apartment and her sister shut the door. “So what’s this about a cool lake?”

Klarisse was making a pot of coffee. She pulled up an app, tapped away on the screen, and had the pot brewing as she listened.

Bell explained everything. “Well my friends and I went on a free tour yesterday, and I saw something splash in the lake! They didn’t believe me so I headed out this morning to see what it was, and it was a kid my age! She said she was a princess of some weird court thing, but she told me to see her tomorrow! Is that alright?”

The college-aged woman nodded along as she poured some coffee into her green Oakland WV mug.

“That’s fine, but I think you should take your friends along next time” Klarisse sipped at her cup of joe. “And don’t stay too late, I have to get stuff for school”

“Alright! I’m gonna go hang out with them” Bell grinned and put some more stuff into her bag. She walked out the door and headed towards Complex 8R2-4. She knocked loudly.

A tall lilac sea turtle with dark purple hair in a braid answered the door. She was wearing a black turtleneck and white shorts.

“Oh, hola Belle” she greeted the child.

Bell cheerfully waved. “Hey Mrs. Ramirez! Is Ponce awake yet?”

“Si, pero Poncio el no esta aqui” Mrs. Ramirez shook her head. Bell tilted her head in confusion. “Oh! Sorry, I’m not good at English”

A gold chimera hollered from the kitchen. “Poncio isn’t here, kiddo!”

“Thanks Mr. Ramirez!” the girl yelled out. She headed off from the Ramirez residence and ran over to Complex 8R3-6.

Bell knocked louder than earlier. She heard her friend get the door and swing it wide open.

“Oh, there you are, Bell!” Toshi waved to her. He grabbed her by the hand and shut the door with his tail. “Ponce and I were wondering where you went!”

“I was off at my place!” Bell laughed as she took her shoes off at the welcome mat. “Hey, where’s everyone else?”

“Oh!” Toshi walked over to the blue door and opened it. “Well my dad took Trai to get registered for kindergarten, Da-San is on the ninth floor with his friends, and Kulap and Malee went to the Aqualung Park with their friend’s older sister!”

Ponce waved from the bean bag he was sitting on. “Hey Bell! Great to see ya!”

“Heya!” Bell flopped onto the bean bag next to him and laid on her stomach. “So what do you guys wanna do today?”

“I was thinking we could go to that carnival! You know, the Rocky Mountain Roads one!” Ponce brought up his idea. “I could beat everyone there at that boxing game”

“That’s next week though” Toshi crossed his arms. “But I’d be up for that! What about today though?”

“We could go back to that lake tomorrow!” Bell wagged her tail in excitement. “I saw someone who lives there”

Ponce chuckled “Are you sure you’re not pulling our tails? But yeah, maybe we’ll do that tomorrow”

“Guys, what about today though?” Toshi sighed and sounded a little annoyed. “Because I was thinking about going to the Paisley fountain near here”

“That does sound pretty fun!” Ponce smiled. “I’ll go get my swimsuit then”

Bell was wagging her tail harder “Me too!”

The three kids grabbed their pool stuff, travelled to the High Street Zone, visited the Paisley Three Story Fountain, got into a water gun fight with some of their future classmates, and spent a good chunk of their Saturday there.

———————-

July 29, 302X

Bell rolled off her mattress and woke up with a thud.

“Ugh….”

After she groaned, she grabbed her fully charged phone and checked the time. Damnit, she thought to herself. 5:15 AM.

After getting barely awake, downing an energy matcha shot, and getting dressed, Bell grabbed her phone and turned off the alarm. She began to write in the “group chat for awesome friends”  
————  
Bell~: Morning guys!  
<3 Toshi <3: bell what the fuck its 5 am >:c  
P o n c e: this? BETTER be worth it.  
Bell~: It is!!!! Just get dressed and meet me by my apartment!!!  
<3 Toshi <3: fiiiiine but you owe me a matcha shot  
P o n c e: Yeah, Bell, I need a shot too  
Bell~: I have plenty of matcha shots for you guys, lmao.  
————

The two boys stood outside Complex 8L1-5. Toshi couldn’t stop yawning while Ponce could barely stand to look at anything. Ponce had one hand on Toshi's shoulder and the other wrapped around the doorknob.

Bell finally opened the door and whispered. “You guys ready to go?” she handed them each a matcha shot.

“Yeah, we’re sooo ready” Toshi yawned loudly before cracking open his shot. He slowly sipped the flavorful drink.

Ponce ripped open his drink and chugged down both ounces without gagging. “I still think you're being ridiculous,” he snarked.

“Just trust me, it’s gonna be awesome, guys!” Bell had already perked up from the light caffeination.

She dragged them both over to the subway station. The early morning felt a lot less creepy, now that she had friends with her. The three of them fell asleep quickly on the subway. Toshi had his head on Ponce's shoulder while Bell laid her head on Ponce's lap. The three kids immediatly woke up once the train came to a halt.

“Already?” Toshi yawned in surprise. “Who’d have thought?”

“Yeah….” groaned Ponce.

Bell eagerly hopped off at the station, while her friends dragged themselves over without any enthusiasm.

“Follow me!”

Bell dashed towards the lake beach, waiting on the rest to get there. She found a purple crown sitting on the shore. It looked awfully familiar…

“Guys, look!” Bell took the crown and held it up.

Toshi took a closer look at the headwear. It was lavender and made of some sort of shells.

“It’s beautiful,” he gasped.

Ponce leaned in as well. “It does look pretty nice”

“Excuse me!~” A high pitched voice called out from the water.

The trio turned around to see Minthe pop up from the shores. Toshi nearly dropped the crown but caught it quickly.

“Oh! Bell!” she gasped. “You’re here! Are those your guards too?”

Ponce angrily blushed and looked away while Toshi harshly whispered to Bell  
“What does she even mean by guards?!”

Bell awkwardly laughed. “Oh, no no no. These are my friends!”

Minthe’s eyes twinkled in curiosity. “Friends? What are those?”

“Oh, well” Bell looked down at the shore and tried to explain. “They’re people who trust you a lot. Like guards but goes both ways!”

“Cool!” Minthe splashed the water with her tail. “Well, new friends, I’m Princess Minthe of the Court of the Epitaph! And who are you?”

“I’m Poncio Ramirez” Ponce gladly introduced himself. “But my friends call me Ponce”

Minthe curtsied under the water “Then I’ll call you Ponce too!”

Toshi waved. “And my name is Toshiyuki Ikeda, just call me Toshi!”

“Amazing!” the seal looked in awe. “Ponce, Toshi, Bell, do you wanna see my kingdom?”

“Sure” the ferret said. “But we need to put on our wetsuits first”

The peppy little pup grinned. “Okay!”

After the trio changed into athletic wetsuits and hooked up their scuba tanks from the gift shop.

"So Bell" Minthe asked her. "I've never seen animals like you three before, what kinds are you?"

"Well, I'm a North American beaver" Bell said.

Toshi was still hooking up his oxygen tank. "And I'm a ferret"

"Chimera for me" Ponce adjusted his goggles. "It means I have more than two types of animal DNA in me. I'm half sea turtle and the rest is part water hog, bat, a little bit of otter, and two other species I can't remember!"

They walked into the water and followed Minthe down to the lakebed.

Once reaching the deep bottom, the three kids gasped in surprise.

There was one large decaying building in the center of the supposed kingdom. The wooden roof looked worn down and on the edge of collapsing on itself. The stone walls were caked in algae and moss trailing through the cracks. A few random trinkets were lying near the entrance: two broken cameras, a worn-down Peeky Pika doll with the eyes carved out, a smashed bottle of beer, and a large antler with a large crack near the base.

“Isn’t it amazingl!” Minthe swam over and picked up the Peeky Pika doll. “My mom and dad call these the gifts from beyond the lake! They say I get them when I’ve been very good!”

Ponce shuddered internally. “What’s over there?” he pointed at a closed-off space with dozens of colorful rocks placed in a circle and a five-point star.

“Oh? That!” Minthe dropped the tattered toy. “That’s where numbers one to thirteen stay!”

Toshi looked over at the Xs marked throughout the rock circle. Some were huge while others were tiny. His deep red eyes widened from the sight.

“And what are those numbers for?” he asked ever so innocently.

The seal shrugged a bit. “I don’t know, but mom and dad say a lot if I mess up, I end up number fourteen. They don’t tell me what it is…”

“And we have a good reason why” a sharp feminine voice spoke behind her.

Minthe yelped and turned around to face her mother. Scarlett’s sharp purple eyes glared at the disappointment in her eyes. Her legs were crossed elegantly as her short grey dress flowed in the water.

“M-m-mom…..” the pup looked worried. “I-I, please let me tell you!”

“What the fuck are those-- those outsider bastards doing here?” she pointed at Bell before going into a tirade. “I told you to stop going to the surface! And now you bring in these filthy outside species! Why do you never listen to me?! You should be extremely grateful that Venice is having his morning tea with our guards!”

“Can you please come by later, friends?” Minthe whispered to Bell.

The beaver nodded with a sadness in her eyes. She looked up to the surface and swam upwards as fast as she could with her friends tagging along. Ponce glanced down in horror as he watched Scarlett continue to mistreat her own child.

Scarlett looked around after the outsiders had left the area. She grabbed Minthe’s collar in one hand and used the other hand to slap her across the face. The young girl shuddered from the instant pain.

“No more fucking visitors. Do you hear me?” the matriarch snarled under her breath.

“But-but what about my face?” Minthe whimpered. She felt salty tears fall down her face. Minthe knew she didn’t mean to upset her mother, all she wanted was to show her new friends where she lived.

Scarlett gulped. “I’m going to say that you tripped and fell against the wall. You know he’d just believe bullshit like that…”

Minthe sighed in defeat.  
—————

Back on the main shore, the trio had already changed back into their street clothes.

“That was creepy” Toshi was still shivering from the coldness of the water. “I don’t want to go back there again”

“Me either” Bell shook her head. She looked down at the washed up crown. “Should we give this back to Minthe though?”

Ponce finished packing his bag. “No way in hell. We should find out if anyone knows about that court thing”

“Who’s even willing to believe us? We’re just kids” Toshi sighed in annoyance.

“Minthe’s a kid too though” Bell brought up. “and I feel bad for her” She held up the tiny little crown. “But at least we have this!”

“Oh yeah!” Ponce gasped. “I bet somebody around here knows about it”

The three main kids travelled back to the subway station. Instead of their usual route, they took the Green Elk— an area for small businesses to flourish.

“Why are we going here again?” Toshi asked as he checked his phone. He was in the middle of texting his dad.

Bell still held onto the headwear. “I know there’s a hat store nearby. Maybe the guy there knows about crowns too”

Ponce asked “Which guy? Leila’s dad?”

“Sounds ridiculous to me,” Toshi snarked. He was also on his phone, but checking the weather.  
It looked to be another beautiful Pondovadia summer.

"Yeah but his wife works at the geology part of the museum here in town" Bell added on. 

The subway came to a halt.

“YOU HAVE REACHED THE GREEN ELK DESTINATION”

Bell and her friends hopped off the subway and walked down the streets of Green Elk.

“Retro Ann’s Tiques, no. Fairest Of The River, nope. Here it is!” Bell pointed at a small brick building. “Chesire Domino’s Wonderland!”

The trio walked into the quaint looking hat store. The walls were covered in all sorts of hats-- fedoras, baseball caps, snapbacks, boaters, even a black top hat with a checkerboard pattern! Several mannequins were lined up near the entrance A tall and chubby pale blue dolphin walked up to the red and white counter. He had short kinky black hair and was wearing a blue flannel shirt and khakis. “So how can I help you three?”

“Hey, Mr. Domino!” Bell greeted the shopkeeper. “We found this at the Lake of the Unknown Knotts, do you know anything about it!”

She gently set the lavender crown on the dark blue counter. Ponce and Toshi watched the crown sparkle in the harsh white lights.

“Hmm…..” Mr. Domino put on a square monocle and looked closely at the strange headpiece. “No gemstones in this piece…. a little bit of crystallized quartz at the base…strange…”

He looked up from the headwear and at the kids.

“It looks to be made out of a mix of clear quartz, some mica, and a bit of amethyst” Mr. Domino moved the crown to a royal purple pillow behind the counter. “But I know the style anywhere. You kids want to hear?”

“Sure” Toshi crossed his arms.

The shopkeeper grabbed some foldable chairs from the closet, unfolded them, then set them down. He sat on one chair and told his story. Toshi crossed his legs, Ponce sat normally, and Bell had one foot on the chair and the other on the ground.

“Back in high school I had this girlfriend who wore a crown just like that. Her name was Rube, but I don’t know what happened to her after we broke up. All I heard was that she ran off with her brother to join some court party with some other weirdos.”

“Rube?” Ponce whispered to Bell.

“Mr. Domino, was she a seal?” the beaver asked him.

“Yeah, I’m sure she was a seal, or maybe a sea lion. All I know is the bitch was just crazy. Cheated on me several times too. At least Erica isn’t like her at all”

The three kids looked at each other and murmured to themselves. Toshi cleared his throat.  
“Well we saw a seal down at the lake today, and she saw us with her crown”

Mr. Domino’s eyes widened. Oh fuck.  
“Oh really now? Was it Rube?”

“No, she said her name was Minthe” Bell shrugged her shoulders.

“She had a kid?!” the dolphin bull thought to himself. “Keep it together, Roger. You dumped her years ago, so obviously the kid isn’t yours. You already have three daughters and you don't need to know about another. Who would even get with Rube after what she did? Just who?!”

“Interesting.” Roger Domino noted. “Hey, I have to get back to work now. You kids run along, and I’ll tell you more about the crown later”

“Alright!” Bell said as she dashed to the door with her friends. “Say hi to Leila for us!”

After leaving the eccentric hat store, the kids looked to each other.

“Court party….” Toshi tapped his foot on the ground and was thinking. “Hey, what did Minthe say her thing was named?”

“Court of the Epitaph?” Ponce answered him. His eyes widened. “....Fuck”

“What is it?!” Bell was surprised as well. “Is it— oh, OH! Minthe’s in a cult!!!”

“A cult?!” Toshi gasped. “I should’ve known! Why else would she call it a kingdom even though it looks trashy?!”

Bell yelled loudly “Yeah and her mom was such an asshole to us!! We should’ve known!!”

Ponce panicked a bit “But what kinda cult is it?! Hey, wait! Didn’t Minthe show us a one to thirteen area of some kind?”

Toshi grabbed Ponce by the shoulders and shook him. “It’s a fucking graveyard, dude! I think they sacrifice children!!”

“Toshi, hey, calm down” Bell yanked his scarf and hushed in his ear. “If someone out here heard that part, Minthe’s mom would kill us next!”

“But—“ Toshi was shaking. “But she’s gonna kill Minthe! We gotta save her!”

“Yeah! We have to go back there now!” Ponce yelled. “We’re too young to die!”

“I know!” Toshi started to run back to the subway station as fast as he could. Bell and Ponce quickly caught up to him. They got back on the subway, came back to Unknown Knotts, changed into their wetsuits, and sprinted their way into the iconic lake.

Now at the lakebed, Toshi took a glance inside the tattered mess of a house. He saw two large seals arguing with a pair of orcas.

“She’s not here” the ferret whispered to his friends.

Ponce groaned “Damnit.”

Bell looked outside the disaster. She saw a flicker behind one of the large rocks. The trio swam over to the rock and saw Minthe trembling like no tomorrow. There was a large bruise on the right side of her face

“Are you okay?!” Bell hushed to the seal.

Minthe shook her head. “I fell against the wall. Why are you guys here?”

“We wanna take you somewhere new” Toshi led a convincing half-lie to her. “You know, for fun”

“That does sound fun” the seal gently smiled. “I’ll follow you”

The animal trio nodded and began to swim upwards to the shore. Minthe paddled as fast as she could. She was lucky her parents were in the middle of a heated argument with their guards, otherwise she’d really end up number fourteen.

Once reaching the shore of Unknown Knotts, Bell yelled out to her.

“Try walking over here! It’s easier!”

Minthe was flipping her way over instead. “What’s walking?”

Ponce held his arm out to her. Minthe grabbed onto his strong arm and pulled herself to the shore. She panted heavily from exhaustion.

“Can I see why you didn’t walk?” Toshi innocently asked her in a friendly tone. The seal shyly nodded. She lifted up the hem of her long silk dress just enough to show the length of her tail, and a lack of legs.

“.......Oh, my bad” the ferret deadpanned and cringed. His cheeks went red over asking her for that favor. “Come on, let’s go!”

Bell commanded her friend “Ponce, you’re the strongest, you carry her!”

“Anything for you, Bell!” Ponce called to her. He lifted Minthe up in his arms, one arm under the tail, the other cradling her upper back.

Minthe was curious now  
“Hey so where are we going?”

“We’re going to a new ‘kingdom” Bell explained as easy as she could to someone as sheltered as Minthe. “I’m the faithful subject, Ponce is the handsome prince, and Toshi is the peasant”

“Oh fuck you Bell” Toshi cracked up a bit before whispering. “Just kidding, that’s pretty funny. But next time, at least let me be the jester!”

Toshi grabbed everyone’s bags, Bell got everyone on the subway, and Ponce made sure to keep Minthe in his arms.

“Your species can breathe air, right?” he asked her.

Minthe quietly nodded, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the new surroundings and feelings.

The subway ride felt agonizingly slow to Bell and Ponce, but Toshi and Minthe didn’t mind the pace.

“So where are we taking her again, your highness?” Toshi nudged Bell’s shoulder.

The beaver whispered into the ferret’s ear. “How about your apartment?”

“Okay, Bell, is this because I'm adopted?” Toshi rolled his eyes.

“No, it’s because Minthe has a crush on you, yes it’s because you're adopted!” Bell snarked back. “Your dad is gonna understand this the best”

Toshi signed in defeat “Fine, but you owe me for this!”

After running back from the station and towards the apartment complex, the trio made their way to their apartment floor. Toshi yanked out his keys, roughly unlocked the door and swung it wide open. Ponce carried Minthe over to the bathroom, placed her down in the bathtub, and turned the water on. He sat down on the floor and panted heavily.

“You two owe me for this” Ponce groaned hard.

Bell ran inside next to him and took a deep breath in. Toshi locked the door, took off his shoes, then walked over to the bathroom. He glared at his friends.

“Ahem” he cleared his throat. Ponce and Bell looked at each other. They then glanced down at why Toshi looked pissed. Ponce kicked off his long sneakers while Bell took off her slip-ons. They handed them to Toshi. He thanked them then took the shoes over to the welcome mat.

“Now what do we do?!” yelled Ponce. “Toshi, do you even know when your dad’s coming home?!”

“No, I don't!” Toshi hollered back. “He didn’t text me back after I asked him that”

Minthe harshly cleared her throat. “You three sound like mother and father...” she pouted.

“Oh! Uhh, sorry about that!” Ponce awkwardly chuckled before lowering his voice. “Toshi, what do we even do then?”

“I don’t know, keep her hydrated I guess” Toshi shrugged in confusion. “Bell and I are getting drinks, Ponce, you turn the bathtub on”

As Bell and Toshi went out to the kitchen to grab drinks for everyone, Ponce started up the water.

“I like this ‘bathtub’ thing” Minthe smiled a bit and flapped her tail. “It’s really cool”

“It does seem cool” Ponce was trying to keep the conversation light. “My mom sometimes sleeps in hers when she has too much tequila”

The seal giggled a bit. “That’s a funny place to sleep”

“Tell me about it” Ponce himself was entertained a bit. Toshi opened the door, while Bell was carrying some green tea for everyone.

She cracked open a can for herself then handed everyone else their drinks.

“Now what?” Bell asked before drinking her tea.

Toshi tried to answer, but got interrupted “I guess wait for—“

“Toshiyuki! I’m home!” a deep male voice called from outside.

“Okay dad!” the ferret yelled, then whispered to his friends. “I’ll stall him, you guys keep her company”

Bell and Ponce nodded. Toshi got out of the bathroom, closed its door, then ran over to the main door. He opened it up for his dad.

A tall emerald green skunk was looking down. He was carrying a small white otter in his arms. A brown and white guinea pig was standing next to his leg, while two pastel green chinchillas were talking quietly to each other.

“Hey kiddo” the skunk greeted his son. “Sorry I didn’t write back, _somebody_ drained my phone battery”

The otter in his arms giggled.

“Trai!” Toshi laughed a bit. “So is he in kindergarten now?”

“Yep, little Trai’s going to Garregheny Elementary like the rest of the pack” the patriarch patted his youngest son’s head.

Bell called out “Toshi! Tell your dad to hurry up!!”

“I’m getting there!” Toshi yelled back. “Oh! Dad, I have a surprise in the bathroom”

The skunk asked “What is it?”

“Is it a toy?” Trai excitedly asked.

The guinea pig perked up “I hope it’s a boat”

“Did you finally get a girlfriend?” the chinchilla wearing a bow asked before giggling.  
The other chinchilla, wearing a flower crown, nudged her sister and laughed.

Toshi facepalmed from his little sister’s snark. “The surprise isn’t _any_ of those. Dad, can I show it to just you already?”

“Sure, just let me get everyone else situated” the skunk father nodded. While he got all the other kids settled down, Toshi went back to the bathroom and closed the door.

Bell had finished her drink and crushed the can with her foot. She tossed it into the trash can.  
“Is he coming in soon?” she asked impatiently.

“Yeah, he just has to get everyone else settled down,” said Toshi. “We’re gonna be fine!”

Ponce nodded along “Awesome”

Five minutes later, Toshi’s dad opened the door and walked in without warning.

“Hey Mr. Yang” Bell waved to him. “This was the surprise!”

Minthe shyly waved to him with a soft smile.

Mr. Yang’s eyes widened in surprise. “Where did you find this kid?!”

Ponce cleared his throat. “We found her in the Unknown Knotts!”

“The what?!” Yang was surprised. “How did you guys not get abducted by the cult there?!”

Toshi asked him “You know about the cult too?”

“Know about it?!” Mr. Yang took a deep breath in and sighed. “Jeez, I have to tell you kids about it after we get this situation sorted. I need to call somebody now”

As Yang stepped outside to call someone on his phone, the three kids looked at each other, then at Minthe.

“What’s a cult?” the seal asked everyone.

Bell leaned over to Ponce and whispered to him “How are we gonna tell her what a cult is?”

Ponce shrugged. "What do we look like? History professors?"  
———————

Thirty minutes later, there was a loud knock on the door.

Yang had just finished preparing lunch for himself. He went over to the door and opened it. A brown warthog and a black and pink pig were standing outside in navy blue uniforms.

“Hi, Mister Basil Yang” the hog spoke to the head of the house. “I’m Officer Eisbein, and this is Officer Gammon. We're from the Pondovadia Child Protective Services, we got your call as soon as we could. Where’s the kid at?”

“Follow me, but _please_ take your boots off first” Basil insisted. He went over to the bathroom and knocked. As both hogs got their work boots off, Basil opened the door.

“Alright, kids” he explained the situation. “We got some pigs from the CPS to keep the kid safe for now. After this I’m telling you about the cult”

The three of them nodded.

“We’re at least gonna see her again, riiiiight?” Toshi raised an eyebrow.

Basil snarked “Noooo, she’s getting locked up for life in a bunker, Toshi. Of course you’ll see her again.”

Eisbein and Gammon carefully headed inside the bathroom. The shorter pig kneeled down to look more approachable while the hog was taking notes on his work phone.

Gammon held an arm out to the little seal “Hey kid, can you tell me about yourself?”

Minthe nodded a little. “I-I’m Princess Minthe” she gulped and stammered. “I live in a lake”

“Hey that’s good enough, kiddo” Gammon gently scooped the girl up in his arms. “We’re taking you somewhere a lot nicer than that lake”

“O-okay” the pup was still nervous. She froze up and stayed quiet as the pig carried her out the apartment.

Eisbein was still taking notes and talking to the kids. “So you kids are telling me she was living in that lake the whole time?”

“Yep” Bell nodded. “I saw her on Friday on a tour, then I saw her Saturday morning, then we met her today”

“Interesting…” the warthog was half listening. “What else did she say to you?”

“Well, she said something about a Court of the Epitaph and invited us to see it” Ponce continued his recap. “I thought it’d be a lot less worn down”

The hog finished his notes “Court of the Epitaph? Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in well over two decades. We’ll send someone over there to investigate the scene. Thanks for the tip-off, kids”

Eisbein left the scene, grabbed both pairs of boots, and followed his partner back to the headquarters to figure out the situation. It was eerily silent for a minute.

“So, do you kids want to hear about my experience with that cult?” Basil asked as he sat down on the couch. “The youngsters are off playing upstairs so they won’t hear this, er, _graphic_ situation”

The trio stepped outta the bathroom and over to the couch. They sat down on the couch and next to Basil.

“Well, what happened?” Toshi asked him.

Basil cleared his throat. “My girlfriend back then started the Epitaph as a complete joke back in high school. She invited me and her friends one day out of the blue. At first we’d get high, come up with nicknames, listen to weird human music, and screw each other on the basketball court, and I had fun too. But after finding some plant near there and smoking it, some of the members were screwing their own cousins. One girl, Rube” the skunk was really cringing. “She took it far and was screwing her own _brother_. Of course, the girl and I left that mess when that happened. Rube took over ownership and made it into an incestuous mess just for her own amusement”

The three kids looked at each other and shuddered.

“Yeah. I don’t know the rest of that mess though. But you kids have to come with me eventually to the court case though” Basil shook his head. “You found the kid, so you three don’t have a choice”  
————  
July 31, 302X

11:45 AM

The kids were sitting together in Ponce's bedroom and watching TV. Bell was in the middle of chewing some bubblegum, Toshi was restyling his low ponytail, and Ponce changed the streaming channel from a bad human B-movie to the local news.

"Hey look!" Bell called out.

An axolotl in a suit was droning on.

"....And Mayor Canadendrum has promised to the citizens of Pondovadia that he will meet every illegitimate child before his tenure is over. In other news, the Lake of the Unknown Knotts is closed for a week due to police investigation for alleged child abuse"

"....Just how many kids does this Canadendrum guy have?" Toshi was confused.

"Enough to cause a scandal apparently" Bell shrugged. 

————  
CHAPTER 2 PREVIEW

“Hey, guys, look! A carnival!” Bell pointed at a digital flyer embedded on a streetlight. “Free for all Pondovadian students….That’s us!”

“We should go!” Ponce grinned. “Not gonna lie, I’m pretty good at those boxing games”


	2. Adrenaline Running Through My Veins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bell and friends go to the summer carnival and turmoil ensues.

———————————

August 2, 302X

It was a sunny day on the streets of downtown Pondovadia. Several animals were minding their own business while others were talking loudly with each other. The main trio were walking down the bustling streets and enjoying their afternoon. Bell was drinking her matcha frappe, Ponce sipped on a pina colada smoothie, and Toshi savored a pink cherry maple refresher.

“Hey, y'all, look! A carnival!” Bell pointed at the digital flyer embedded in a shiny streetlight. “Free for all Pondovadia students….That’s us!”

“We should go!” Ponce grinned. “Not gonna lie, I’m gonna kick so much ass there”

Toshi was reading the fine print on the screen. “Hm, nice, it's all through this week”

Three other children their age walked up to the trio.

“Well, well, well look who it is” the light blue porcupine greeted everyone with an eager wave. He was holding hands with a light grey panther chimera, and she looked bored outta her mind as she was texting in her other hand. The cherry pink pup with curly pink hair next to them was fiddling with a disposable camera in his hands. He looked away from everybody else, still focused on the lens and buttons.

“Are you guys going to that carnival too?” the porcupine eagerly asked the trio.

“Nooooo, Chris” Toshi rolled his eyes. “We’re trying to steal this streetlight for ourselves, weren’t we?”

Ponce laughed. “Yeah, ripping this thing out is gonna be a breeze. Nope! Last week of summer break, last week to do something fun!”

“I know, right?” Chris was grinning in excitement. “I checked off everything on my summer bucket list except for this carnival. And I mean **everything**!”

The canine looked around at his surroundings, put his camera into his jacket pocket and took some earbuds out of his ears. He whispered to Chris.

“Hey, did that siren finally stop?”

The porcupine nodded as he whispered back. “It’s all good, Aster”

Aster pulled the bright yellow camera out of his left pocket.

The grey chimera rolled her eyes and put her phone away. She rearranged her messy indigo pixie cut with her free hand. “Yeah, whatever. Can we go already, Chris?”

“Sure, Joan” Chris held onto her hand tighter. “Hey can I add you guys first? I just got a new phone this week and I didn't save any of my contacts”

“Of course, Chris!” Bell pulled out her phone and handed it over to him. He tapped away at the device, typing in a couple numbers in her contacts. Once finished, he handed it back to her.

Chris waved to her before walking away from the trio with Joan and Aster. “Seeya guys later!”

The other kids were talking amongst themselves while they walked down the street to the subway.

“Hey, sorry if I was too quiet, guys” Aster said as he checked his phone for any texts. “I just hope they don't think I'm a jerk”  
The canine took his earbuds out of his right pocket and put them on.

The porcupine patted his shoulder. “It’s fine! Are you guys still up for that carnival tomorrow?”

“Sure, I guess” Joan squeezed his hand tighter and flapped her wings lightly. “But are we really meeting up with Bell and her friends? I thought we were going on a date”

“I don’t have an idea yet,” Chris shrugged. “But I’d like to! It’s been a while since I hung out with any of them”

Aster was trying to listen in. He was in the middle of applying several filters on some photos he took earlier that day.

“It's been a while since the fifth grade carnival. Last time I won a couple dozen plushies!” Chris began to brag. “Of course, I gave some to my cousin Felicity, she loves those things. She knows a lot about them too— the stitching, fabric type, brand, collector value. I don’t really get her fascination but you know, I love her anyway!”

Joan grunted slightly. “She sounds weird to be honest”

“Joan, don’t be an asshole” Aster deadpanned while still occupied with his camera.

The three kids hopped onto the Blue Ridge route and headed back.

Meanwhile, back at the Green Elk District…

“So should we go today or?” Ponce asked as he sat down on a rich green bench.

Toshi sat next to him and checked his phone for anything new. “No way. I’d rather go tomorrow, they probably ran out of the best food by now”

Bell was writing back to Chris and giving him two other numbers. She shrugged “That’s fair. Plus I wanna meet up with Chris and his friends, I never really hung out with Aster before”

“Hey, that’d be fun!” Ponce’s ears perked up and his small tail wagged. “Chris and I can kick some ass at darts!”

A tall orange donkey in a suit walked by and glared at what the kids were talking about.  
————-  
August 3, 302X

8:37 AM, the clock on Chris’s phone read. He climbed out of bed, took his phone into the shower and texted as he scrubbed himself clean with glacier scented body wash.  
—-  
CHRIS: Morning guys!  
JOAN: BABE its too fucking early for this shit  
PONCE: Yeah I just woke up too  
ASTER: ?  
CHRIS: So, where are we meeting at for the carnival?  
BELL: How about at the subway station?  
CHRIS: Hmm……  
-ASTER HAS SENT AN IMAGE-  
TOSHI: aster that looks delicious!  
BELL: Yeah, who made that?  
ASTER: !!! Thanks! My mom and dad did! Ghost peppers and griddle morels! My favorite! My cousin burned himself on the stove again  
CHRIS: Looks good! So how about 10 at the Kanawa station? The carnival opens at 11  
JOAN: fine  
BELL: No idea where that is.  
-PONCE HAS SENT A SCREENCAP-  
BELL: Thanks!  
TOSHI: this is gonna be so fun!!!  
—-  
9:32 AM

Bell stepped outside of her apartment, excited to tackle the day. Her orange-pink hair was tied into two low pigtails, while her large brown bow was pinned in the back. Instead of her usual outfit, she had on a sleeveless beige ruffled romper and pink high top sneakers without socks underneath. She had her Mon Uni backpack in one hand and her phone in the other.

She ran up to Ponce’s apartment and knocked loudly on the door.

The yellow turtle chimera opened the door and faced his friend. He was wearing a white muscle tank with ‘Total Kei Kei’ in black print on the chest, black athletic shorts, and grey low-top sneakers with purple socks peeking out. His basic black backpack was hanging off one shoulder.

“You ready?” he asked.

The beaver nodded “Of course I am!”

The duo headed over to another apartment and knocked. Toshi answered the door. He was wearing a dark red sleeveless button-up, white bermuda shorts with light green flowers on the left side, and black beat-up canvas sneakers with baggy green socks.

“Alright, let’s go!” the ferret grabbed his messenger bag and hopped out the door to his friends.

The trio headed down the hallway, got on the elevator, and went to the main floor. They stopped at the subway down the block and got on the Kanawa route. The trip took only five minutes.

Chris, Joan, and Aster were sitting together at the station. Chris had on a white short sleeved windbreaker, a brown striped tank top, navy shorts, and beige sneakers. Joan adorned a short black sweetheart dress, red fishnets, and black ankle booties. And Aster was wearing an ombre racerback tank top, red overalls, and pink slip-ons. The porcupine and panther chimera were whispering into each others’ ears while the puppy was checking his phone.

“Hey y'all!” Bell waved to everyone as she got off the subway. “So is this where it’s at?”

“Nope, I just said to meet here!” Chris shrugged. “We actually gotta go to the High Street Zone”

Joan rolled her eyes in apathy. “Whatever, let’s just go already”

The six kids got onto the subway and rode over together to the High Street Zone. The ride went smoothly, no mechanical errors or overcrowding. As the subway came to a halt, everyone on board took a glance at the beauty of the carnival.

It was teeming with life. A ferris wheel was turning slowly and was filled to the brim with all sorts of animals. Countless others were playing on quirky carnival games and winning ritzy prices. Even more animals were downing deliciously greasy food dripping in flavor. Hell there was even a drop tower nearby that looked fun!

“This looks amazing!” Aster exclaimed as he took a few pictures from the subway. His eyes were sparkling in excitement from the new situation on hand.

The group of children exited the station and walked to the bustling scene. Aster nearly tripped on his feet as he continued to capture more photos. After checking the virtual map of Preston Carnival on his phone, Toshi stood on the tip of his toes and looked for the lines. There were several lines outside and neatly divided by age group— Pre-K (and Legal Guardian), Elementary, Middle School, High School, and Mon Uni Students.

“So what should we do first, guys?” Chris asked everyone.

Ponce joined in the conversation as he walked over to the middle school line. “Well I wanted to go win some prizes from the game section. What about you guys?”

Joan scoffed. “Uh, Chris is taking me on the ferris wheel first. Isn’t that right?~”

The blue porcupine rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Right. The ferris wheel”

“I’m pretty hungry,” Toshi said as his stomach growled like a rottweiler guarding food. “I’ll get food first!”

“Me too!” Bell nodded.

The line went quicker than expected. After going through, verifying their IDs, and getting a bright gold plastic bracelet each, the six kids split off in groups of three.

Ponce and Aster went over to the dartboard area.

“I gotta warn you, I’m pretty damn good at darts” the chimera boasted. He looked over at the dog, who was still looking at his camera. “Uh, are you listening?”

Aster bolted up a bit, his tail fluffing up wide. “Oh! Were you talking to me?” he gasped. “Sorry about that. But yeah, you were saying, how good at darts are you?”

“Let’s just say I was one of the top three at Garregheny Elementary’s carnival last year. Second place if you were wondering” Ponce chuckled. He went up to a lineless dart booth and held up three fingers. “Three darts please”

The red spotted newt at the counter smiled a bit. “Sure thing” She gave him three silvery darts and moved out of the way.

Aster got his camera out and began to film. Ponce squinted at the multicolor balloons, aimed his dart, and swiftly threw them each in a row. Three loud pops were made as he landed with ease, causing the canine to flinch slightly. After the final pop was heard, Aster sighed in relief, finished filming, and put his camera away.

“Congrats!” the newt was beaming in a cheery voice. “Pick any prize you want” she pointed above her at the dozens of countless stuffed animals hanging from the ceiling.

“Which one should I get for Bell?” Ponce thought out loud. The orange turtle with a pink tail looked like her aesthetic. But the pretty pink Peeky Pika was the same shade as the highlights in her hair…  
He pointed at the pastel pink Peeky Pika plush. “This one!”

Aster held his camera up to Ponce. “Can we get a pic together?”

The turtle chimera nodded “Sure.” He got a quick pic together in front of the dart booth, just after the newt handed him his pink Peeky Pika plush.

“Thanks!” Ponce waved to the carnival booth worker as he and Aster headed to the middle of the area.

“Is Bell your girlfriend?” Aster curiously asked.

Ponce angrily blushed and held the toy tighter. “No,” his nose scrunched up in cringe. “She’s just my friend!”

The canine wagged his tail “Well then why did you win the toy for her?”

“Well” Ponce was still flustered. “I just don’t have any room in my place for it. That’s all”

“Ok!” Aster smiled a bit. “Hey look who’s back! Hi!”

Toshi and Bell ran over with all sorts of goodies in their hands. Toshi was effortlessly holding a paper bag filled with something greasy, some roe tempura in a box, a cup of maple coated livestock nuggets, and chocolate covered grapefruit slices. The beaver was struggling to hold at several drinks in her hands-- two sugar free energy drinks, a pina colada smoothie, a blue raspberry slushie, and two bottles of water.

“Hey!” Toshi held up the snacks. “Chris texted and said you like this kinda stuff”

The ferret handed the canine a brown paper bag with a little grease on the bottom.

“Grilled morels?!” Aster gasped in surprise as his tail wagged hard. “Aww thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! Hey wait a minute!”

“Huh?” The ferret looked confused. Shit, did Chris say something he wasn’t supposed to, he thought to himself. All that guy said was to get him something sweet, Joan a cold drink and something vaguely sour, and grilled anything for Aster.

The canine pulled a morel out and munched happily. The tenderness of the morel melted in his mouth and felt like pure ecstasy.  
“Why didn’t Chris tell me how great you guys are?!”

“You couldn’t just meet us for yourself?” Toshi asked. He was confused at what this kid meant.

Aster got flustered. “Well, not really. I've been so busy with my photography blog, and being a third wheel for Chris, even though I don't know what a third wheel is”

Bell whispered to Ponce “I have no idea what he means, but he’s a nice guy so far”

“Yeah, Chris is cool like that, he has plenty of friends” Ponce nudged his friend and handed her the pastel pink plush. She squeezed the toy happily.

Chris began to text the group.  
———

CHRIS: So who’s up for the ferris wheel?  
JOAN: …….  
Bell: Hmm…..  
-ASTER HAS SENT AN IMAGE-  
JOAN: ……  
TOSHI: aster that looks tasty  
PONCE: i might think about it, do they allow food on there?  
CHRIS: No idea but if you sneak it on you’ll be safe  
TOSHI: oh i’m pretty good at sneaking :3c  
BELL: Sure, I’ll do it!  
ASTER: c:  
——-

“Wanna go with me on the ferris wheel?” Bell asked Aster. “I think it'd be fun”

“Oh!” Aster choked a bit and was visibly flustered. His tail wagged harder than before. “You mean it? I mean, wow, I— I’ve never been on one of those before!”

Bell blushed a bit. “Well let’s go!”

“That doesn’t really look that fun. It might break” Ponce shrugged, unknowingly setting off a jinx.

Toshi was sipping at his drink. “Yeah, I agree. I might watch though!”

She grabbed Aster by the wrist and eagerly dragged him over to the ferris wheel line. Chris and Joan followed suit, the former looking energetic while the latter was bored out of her mind.

Five minutes later, everyone was situated on their seats and the wheel began to turn. Aster clinged his sweaty hands to the bar while Bell was beaming in happiness. He smiled a bit from the fun he was having.

“Oh this is awesome!” she yelled as they went higher in the air. The duo watched as they saw at least a dozen stories on the surrounding city buildings. "You could practically see all of West Virginia from here!"

Just as Aster and Bell reached the top of the ferris wheel, the ride came to a slow grinding halt. Aster covered his ears from the noise and shuddered.

“Aw you gotta be fucking kidding me!” Bell hollered. “THIS happens?!”

The canine uncovered his ears after the scraping metal stopped.  
“Yeah, this sucks.”

The blue beaver groaned in annoyance “Can this get any worse?”

While Bell and Aster were trapped together on the blue ferris wheel seat, they looked down together to hear two animals arguing below them.

“What do you mean it’s over?! We just started dating three weeks ago?!” Chris exclaimed at the pissed off panther. “We even went all the way for fuck's sake! Fourth base!”

Bell and Aster glanced down from their seat. Bell cringed in disgust while Aster had no idea what the hell was going on.

“Yeah, but you didn’t listen to me” Joan huffed. “You know what I wanted? Just a summer fling. What, you actually _wanted_ this to last until school starts?! This is gonna be fucking middle school, Christopher. Do you even care what that prick Maya would write about us?”

The porcupine facepalmed at the sheer pettiness. “It’s not even any of that! It’s the fact that you're breaking up with me on a Ferris wheel! I don’t care what Maya has to say!”

“Well I do!” the panther-falcon chimera hollered. “If we stay together before school starts, Maya’s gonna make us the laughingstock of Southwest Pondovadia Middle School”

“I didn’t know Chris always fought with his other friends” Aster was still looking down at the turmoil down below. He clinged to the bar in front of him.

Bell shrugged. “Me either. I think they’re both being super petty”

The now ex-couple were still arguing.

“Why don’t you even care what Maya’s gonna say?!” Joan hollered.

Chris facepalmed. “She’s a bitch, alright! That girl is always going to rat out everyone and talk trash in the name of quick news! It’s not always about what you want! I wanted to hang out with my friends here!”

“And I wanted this to be a couples’ only outing” the panther chimera sneered.

“But you said we were just a summer fling—“ Chris tried to argue back.

Joan snarled and interrupted him “And I changed my mind. Fuck you”

“Well I already did, Joan” huffed Chris. “And I regret it! I never wanna see you again after this!”

Toshi climbed up Ponce’s shoulders and yelled towards everyone. “Bell!! Aster!! What happened?!?!”

“I don’t know!!” the beaver screamed from the top. “If we tried to get off this thing we’re gonna die!”

Ponce hollered as he struggled to keep his friend up “And we can’t get any help there!”

Back at the ground, the zebra who was supposed to be fixing the ride completely ignored the distress. Instead, he was drinking a white russian and laughing it off with a sky blue winged unicorn in a prep school uniform. She was messing with her short dark blue hair and fake chuckling at his jokes.

“You’re cute! Where did you say you went again?” the winged unicorn giggled as she enjoyed some iced water.

The ride worker smirked. “Mon Uni -hic- for engineering, and you’re pretty -hic- charming yourself. What do you say we -hic- go to that porta-potty over there and make like eighteen ram cowboys?”

“I’d love that!” She grabbed his hoof and dragged him over to a row of faded green porta-potties. They locked the door and made just like a breed of ram wanting to rut.

Toshi and Ponce facepalmed.

“I hope we don’t end up like they do” the ferret shuddered. “But what are we gonna do?! I don’t know fuck all about carnival rides!”

“I have an idea!” Ponce pointed triumphantly in the air. “We gotta sneak over there somehow. I got it!”

The two kids snuck into the area, pretending to have lost a contact near the control panel. Several older animals looked rudely at the kids. Toshi flipped it open with a key he found near the door.  
“Great. So many wires. This is exactly what my day needed” Toshi snarked.

“We gotta find the blue ones” Ponce pointed out two that were more separated than the rest.

Meanwhile, back at the ferris wheel…

“So, yeah, what kind of stuff are you into?” Bell tried to make some decent small talk with a possible new friend. Killing the silence should be easy with a guy like him. He continued to look down at the ground.

“Oh, well” the curly haired canine blinked and wagged his tail before pulling out his disposable camera. “I’m super into photography!”

“That’s cool!” Bell was now intrigued. “What kinda stuff do you take pics of?”

Aster was beaming like a golden retriever with a new tennis ball before rattling off everything he knew then and there. “Anything that catches my eye! Other animals, scenery, landscapes, paintings, the city. Sometimes I use one of my dozen Bojak 304 disposables for day outings, it has really good range for a cheaper camera. But if I’m feeling professional, I like having my Icekon 920 SLR— that one has excellent aperture and lighting options rigged up by default. I got it for my birthday last year! And the camera button feels way smoother than the other models. Plus the carrying strap doesn’t dig into my neck like most models do, and the battery is longer than my old phone model”

The girl was surprised at how much this dog was educated in photography.

“So do you have a website or?” she asked, now curious about his expertise.

Aster laughed loudly. “Of course I do! I have a few— one my dad coded for his job, and the rest is just social media. I’m pretty selective on which media I do like though, but all my accounts are aster borealis, all lowercase letters with a lowercase dash in there. It’s all my photography stuff of course, but sometimes my jerk of a cousin Carnegie tags me in other stuff just to make me pissed”

“Carnegie?” Bell was intrigued. “Now that’s a name I don’t hear much”

“Well he’s not really from this area in West Virginia, he's from the panhandle” Aster explained. “His parents got divorced, they both blamed Carnegie for the divorce, and so neither of them want custody of him, so he’s living with my mom and dad for now. His mom and my mom are sisters-- twins too. My mom's side is all foxes but my dad is half Pomeranian and half Pyrenees. So you could say I'm a chimera even though I don't have heterochromia like most chimeras do! But that's probably because I have all dog DNA”

Bell chuckled in amusement. “Oh I know a thing or two about chimeras”

“Really? Like what” asked Aster.

The beaver continued. "Well my good friend Ponce, he's a chimera!"

"Oh cool!" Aster wagged his tail harder. "I've been meaning to do a photography project about chimeras sometime for my blog!"

Back at the ground level, Ponce and Toshi kept fiddling with the frayed wires.

Toshi asked him “Was it blue or purple?”

“Blue, Toshi. Blue” Ponce said to himself as he connected the two black wires with shiny silver duct tape. “This is ridiculous”

“I’m surprised we haven’t been electrocuted yet” the ferret pointed out. “We’re pretty lucky, aren’t we?”

Ponce glared a bit before continuing to latch wire by wire as best as he could. At least he had duct tape in his pockets to help.

Back in the air, Chris and Joan continued their petty bickering.

"I didn't even wanna the rest of them here! I wanted this to be a date"  
"And when I wanted a date, you made me go to that punk show!"  
"What, did you not have a good time there?!"  
"That one guy threw up on my hat, Joan! It's still in the laundry and it smells like cheap beer!"  
"Not my fault most animals there get wasted."  
"Are you even listening to anything I'm saying!"  
"Honestly? No."

Behind them, a bright red parrot wearing a blue bow squawked at them “Hey! Will you two shut the hell up already! I’m trying to enjoy the day here!”

“Yeah, none of us wanted to hear your shitty break-up story” the short white chicken next to her hollered. “If I wanted to see something this petty I’d start a fake apology video and read the comments”

Joan looked hard at the duo behind her. She reached in her pockets, moved around her fingers, and promptly flipped them off.

Chris facepalmed in pure and utter embarrassment “Why did this have to happen now?”

Toshi and Ponce were still messing with the wires.

“Damnit, it’s not working” Ponce groaned to himself. He continued to tape more red wires together. “Is anyone coming?”

Toshi stood up on his tiptoes. “Nope! Just other animals going to the games section!”

“Great!” Ponce stuck his tongue out as he grabbed some tools off the ground. He hooked a few together until he heard loud rattling above him.

Back at the ferris wheel, Bell and Aster gasped in surprise. They felt their seat rock for the first time in a while.

“Is it really working now?” he asked as he clinged to the bar of the seat.

Bell shrugged, but suddenly perked up as the wheel began to turn.  
“No way….”

The amusement park ride finally worked as it should, slowly turning in the bright summer day.

“Wow!” Aster gasped. He took a video of the ride down. “This is fun!”

As the duo’s seat slowed to a halt again, Ponce and Toshi ran up to the entrance for the ride. Just as they crowded near, a disoriented zebra with red lipstick on his cheek came over.

“Alright" he hiccuped and slurred his words "you kids move the hell away or I'm- I'm getting Mayor Canadendrum up in here...” he stammered as he undid the bar of the seat. The beaver and canine duo jumped off the ride and headed to the group.

“Thanks for saving us by the way” Bell smiled a bit with a soft blush.

Toshi was curious now. “No problem. So was it any fun?”

“Yeah, it was!” Bell nodded. “I’d do it again, what about you, Aster?”

“It was fun!” the pinkish puppy wagged his tail. “It felt like only five minutes though!”

Just as they were talking, Chris and Joan had gotten off the ferris wheel and were looking enraged.

Bell and Ponce glanced at each other quickly. “What—“

“Save it, you two” Joan snapped. “I had the worst hour of my life there”

“Your life?!” Chris glared with a burning fury. “You dumped me on a ferris wheel! Do you even know how terrible that is?”

Joan got hissy “It happened, now get off your high horse.”

Bell nudged Joan and pointed over to a nearby Clydesdale stallion. “Not now, Joan”

“Fuck off, Bell” the panther chimera pushed her away. “I’m out of here. See you assholes at fucking school I guess! I hope we don't have any classes together”

She stormed off away from the group of now five, leaving them to their own devices.

“Chris, what did you see in her again?” Ponce asked with a shrug.

The porcupine looked down at the ground. “To be honest, I don’t know. She was hot, sure, but too hot headed for me.”

“And what was that thing about fourth base? Did you two play baseball?” Aster tilted his head ever so innocently.

Chris was flustered and yelled. “I played baseball, yeah, but that’s not what she and I did! And I’m not ready to talk about that”

Bell, Ponce, and Toshi glanced at each other.  
“Gross” they all thought to themselves.

“Hey what do you say we play some darts?” Ponce pulled up a digital flyer with a map for the game locations.

Chris perked up and smiled a bit. “I’d love to! That’s what I came here for in the first place!”

The five kids dashed over to the game zone for some rounds of darts. After the final dart was thrown and the last balloon was popped…

“Hey, congratulations!” Bell patted Aster on the head. “What prize are you getting!?”

The canine looked upwards, not sure on which one to get.

“I know just the one!”

He pointed up at a blue rabbit plush. The toad behind the counter grabbed it and handed it over without a care.

Aster squeezed the plush happily.

“Isn’t it awesome?”

“Yeah!” Toshi grinned. He was finishing off some crunchy fried roe clusters.

The sun was setting and the carnival was about to close. After everybody said their goodbyes and headed home, the evening was pretty serene.

Bell was in the middle of looking for school supplies online when she got a call from her friends.

“Hi guys!” She joined the call without hesitation. “Toshi, why’s your camera off?”

The ferret scoffed. “Bell, I’m literally in my weekly bubble bath right now! I have some standards”

Ponce was in the middle of chopping a plantain. “So what are we doing right before school starts?”

Toshi finally turned the camera on with a groan. His dark green hair was pulled into a small bun while he was up to his neck in colorful soapy bubbles.

“I know that I need more bath bombs! But besides that, noooo idea!”

“I gotta get stuff soon, my sister’s busy with college so no more calls for me at home” Bell pouted a bit. “But she’s taking me to a Blyned Jagwar show after her midterms in two months!”

“But aren’t they a college band?” Ponce snarked before nearly cutting his finger on the plantain. “You’re the only kid I know who even likes them”

Bell affectionately flipped him the bird. “Yeah, I know!” she laughed hard. "But I'm still looking forward to that concert!"  
———

CHAPTER 3 PREVIEW

A golden scorpion wearing a green and white plaid shirt walked into the nearly empty subway. He was flipping through on his phone for the Spanish to English section of Dandelion-Seed Secondary Language. His tail was curled close to his body and his smaller arms were crossed.

“Oh goodness, who is that new guy?” Violet whispered into Tabitha’s ears.

The feline flipped her hair. “Violet, please. You think every guy you’ve seen on here is new. And why do you care so much?”

The butterfly glared at her friend. How was she going to tell her about the crush, she thought to herself.

“I’m just saying, geez. He doesn’t look like anyone from our school. Did you even check our class lists?”


	3. Shovin’ into Overdrive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day of school goes well— except for when the subway breaks down just before it starts!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody, sorry about the hiatus, I had total writers’ block for this chapter! Thanks for the patience!

August 10, 302X

Ponce’s alarm on his phone went off loudly. The turtle chimera rolled from the side of his bed to turn off the alarm. He glanced at his screensaver-- him, Bell, and Toshi from when they went to the beach over the summer, and then at the time.

6:15 AM

Oh. Right, the first day of school, Ponce thought to himself. School didn’t start until 9:30 AM but he’d be damned if he didn’t get there early to figure out where everything was at in Southwest Pondovadia Middle School. He reached for his phone, shoved it in his left hoodie pocket and rolled out of bed.

“Poncio! Ayúdame en la cocina!” a high feminine voice called out to him.

“Si, ma!” he yelled to her. Ponce swung the door open and headed to the kitchen.

His mom was peeling three ripe plantains while his dad came out of his bedroom. The chimera’s fur was the same golden hue as his son’s and his unruly bright orange hair curled around his ears and neck.

“Buenos dias, Marcela~” Ponce’s father kissed his wife’s cheek and put a mariposa flower in her indigo hair.

Marcela giggled from the stubble scratching her face. “Carlos! No delante de Poncio!”

Ponce facepalmed and groaned from the obvious flirting in front of him. He just knew one of them was going to ask him later to stay the night at a friend’s place. Hopefully it'll be Toshi's this time!  
The turtle chimera walked to the counter and helped Marcela chop the plantains into thin planks. She tossed some coconut oil into the warm pan and lifted the pan up to swirl the oil around. Ponce went to the fridge and pulled a carton of livestock eggs out. 

Meanwhile, in Complex 8R3-6...

Trai and Da-San were running around, giggling, and throwing couch pillows at each other while Mr. Yang was in a sticky situation.

“Kulap, Malee, please just take them already” Basil groaned as he drank a cup of green tea in one hand and held two child-sized short-sleeve sweaters to the fussy girls.

The mint chinchilla wearing a flower crown pouted and crossed her arms. “But Daaaaad no one else has to wear them!!!”

“Malee, what if the air conditioning gets too cold?” the skunk tried to reason.

Malee groaned loudly “Don’t be a dick, dad!”

“Language! And who taught you that?” Basil gasped and glared.

The two chinchillas pointed in the bathroom. “Toshi” they said at the same time.

Basil dropped the sweaters, set his drink on the wood table, facepalmed into both hands, and shook his head. “I’m going to have a word with him after dinner tonight”

All was quiet in 8L1-5 as both residents slept away in their rooms, until…

Klarisse’s alarm went off. She was holding the side of her head as she turned the alarm off.

“Ugh…”

The beaver looked around her bedroom. She saw that the brigh blue curtains were open wide and it annoyed her beyond the moon. After closing the curtains and checking her clock, she saw why the alarm went off. Fuck, not a damn freshman tour at eight.

“The things I do for university service hours” Klarisse thought to herself. She made a cup of coffee and drank the whole thing in one sitting.

“Bell! Time to get up!” she hollered.

“Aww, but Klarisse!” her little sister yelled back. “Classes don't start until nine thirty!!”

The older Woodrow rolled her eyes. “I know that, smartass! But I have to leave at eight for that tour, and I don’t want you to be late on the first day!”

Bell snarked “Just tell them you got sick and can’t make it! That’s literally what you did last night!” She finally came out of her bedroom and was still in her fuzzy pajamas. Her hair was a tangled mess. Bell almost tripped on an empty Jack Daniels bottle.

Klarisse facepalmed and drank another eight ounces of coffee. “I am not telling a bunch of bored freshmen and their Karen ass parents that I got fucking drunk with Amelie again, Isabell”

“Geez, sorry!” the young girl rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “I’ll drop it”

Bell went back inside her bedroom and got changed. She came back outside with her Mon Uni bag and was wearing her usual outfit. Her hair was untouched, however, and her socks were inside-out. Fuck it, if anyone had a problem with her socks that was their problem.

“Let me fix that,” Klarisse said as she grabbed Bell’s hair and put it in a messy bun. She pinned her bow to the crown of her bun. Bell rolled her eyes in annoyance.

She grabbed a sixteen ounce bottle of matcha energy, stuffed it in her pocket, and headed out the door with a slam. Bell met up with her very amused friends.

Toshi snickered at her new hairdo while Ponce stifled his laughs. “You look like you’re gonna speak to the manager” the ferret snarked.

Bell facepalmed hard. This is just how she wanted her first day to go.

\----

7:20 AM

Ponce, Bell, and Toshi got into the subway station and waited on the Southwest Line to roll in. The blue subway car rolled into the station and was unusually empty for a school line. The only other passengers were a gold and cream cat and a lavender butterfly seated at the back. The cat was wearing a green designer dress while the butterfly was wearing a sky blue poncho, a white lace long sleeved undershirt, and dark purple shorts. They were busy talking with each other while the main trio got seated in the middle of the car.

“I’m finally ready to do it, Violet,” the cat told her friend. “I think I'm finally going to ask Bell out today”

A golden scorpion with a stylish black fade and wearing a green and white sleeveless plaid shirt walked into the nearly empty subway. He was flipping through his phone for the Spanish to English section of Dandelion-Seed Secondary Language. His tail was curled close to his body and his smaller arms were crossed. He carried a comic book print backpack on one shoulder.

“Oh goodness, Tabitha, who is that new guy?” Violet whispered into her friend’s ears.

The feline flipped her blonde bob. “Violet, _please_. You think every guy you’ve seen this week is new. And why do you care so much?”

Tabitha was smoothing out her pale green designer dress and fixing her eyeliner in the mirror. Violet crossed all four arms underneath her sky blue poncho.

The butterfly glared at her friend. How was she going to tell her about the crush, she thought to herself.

“I’m just saying, geez. He doesn’t look like anyone from our school. Did you even check our class lists for if we have any classes together?” Violet rolled her eyes.

“Of course I did” Tabitha whispered as she looked at the screen on her phone. “We have Miss Linon for homeroom, and that’s it”

“The bulldog?” asked Violet.

The scorpion took a good look around the subway car. He walked away from the duo— too gossipy for him, and headed to where Bell and company sat. The three kids looked up at the mysterious stranger.

“Can I sit here?” the insect asked as he read off his phone.

“Sure!” Bell nodded. She moved a bit so the new kid could sit across from her.

Toshi pointed out “I never saw you before. Are you new?”

The scorpion nodded. “Sí. Me llamo Tobías Arequeno” he introduced himself before clearing his throat. “English isn’t my first language” he whispered to them.

“It’s fine, I speak both!” Ponce reassured him. “Oh! Soy Ponce, mi amigos Toshi and Bell”

Tobias grinned a bit as his tail uncurled. “Me mudé aquí la semana pasada desde Fuejaro Arizona”

“Chévere! Mi papá solía trabajar allí” Ponce’s small pointy ears rose and he wagged his tail as he conversed with the scorpion.

Tobías pulled a small gold box out of his pop art backpack.

Just as he was about to open it up, the subway came to a screeching halt. The six kids cringed from the piercing sound of metal grinding against the rail.

“Oh dios mios!” the scorpion exclaimed in surprise.

Bell looked around. “What the fuck?!”

The speaker crackled in the ceiling, making the six kids turn around.

“Oh uh sorry everyone, all school district lines have shut down” a voice spoke inside. “Please stay inside as— What in the— What’s going—“

The voice screamed in horror before the crackling shut off and buzzed through the air like cicadas that just woke up.

Everyone inside the car looked at each other. A loud slamming was heard outside the door to the other subway car. Something snapped inside and a yell was heard.

“Goodness!” Violet exclaimed as she backed away with Tabitha. Her four hands were raised up in surrender.

The cat, however, had the strap of her designer messenger bag in one hand and her claws extended in the other. She glared and hissed at the impending door.

“Stay back!” Tabitha hissed.

Despite her yell, the entity at the door just didn’t give up. It kicked the door down and trampled inside the room. But instead of an eldritch abomination from the deep rotting underground, it was a slimy blue and grey sardine. His oversized shirt and sweats were caked in filth and torn up beyond repair. His tangled black hair shedded everywhere and a thick curly beard dominated his lower face. His gold eyes were bloodshot and he twitched with each step he took.

“What the-“ the fish murmured to himself. “This isn’t Vietnam…”

The six kids backed further away as more animals joined the fried-up fish. Two caribou, two mitten crabs, and a monarch butterfly followed their leading invader of the subway car. They looked just as disheveled as their leader.

“What the hell are you doing, Neopol?” the monarch butterfly called out. “You’re not a Vietnam soldier!”

“No, but I gotta take out those damn trees before they start speaking Vietnamese, Rosebud!” Neopol hollered. He stumbled over onto a subway seat and threw up. The chunks of pink bile and grey liquid splattered everywhere, especially on his tattered brown moccasins.  
"I ain't no senators son I tell you whut" Neopol stammered to himself. 

Bell whispered to everyone else. “Y’all, I have an idea!”

“What is it?” Ponce hushed to her.

Tabitha leaned in to hear the plan, while Violet huffed in annoyance. Who does Bell think she is, giving out all these orders like she knows the place, Violet thought to herself. But she should trust her after all.

Tobias and Toshi leaned closer to Bell.

“We should climb to the roof and sneak out of the subway!” Bell told everyone her idea.

Toshi rolled his eyes and playfully snarked. “With all these drugged up fuckers chasing us? Sure, that’ll totally be easy. How are we gonna do that without getting killed, huh?”

“¿Es Pondovadia siempre así de loco?” Tobías asked.

“Si lo es” Ponce nodded and reassured him. “Si lo es”

Neopol lifted himself up from the floor and trudged over to the kids. They ran to the end of the car and stacked on each other. Bell was on the bottom and trying to balance herself while she held Ponce on her shoulders. Ponce held up Tobias, Tabitha sat on Tobias's shoulders, Toshi had a grip on Tabitha's waist, and Violet was on the edge and trying to reach for the ceiling. She finally grasped the hatch with her four arms and ripped it open.  
The butterfly swung her legs up and got to the roof of the subway, leaving everyone else behind.

“What’s wrong with you, Violet?!” Toshi yelled as he swayed slightly. "Don't leave us behind!"

“I’m just trying to find a way out, jeez!” the butterfly rolled her eyes in annoyance. She looked up at the cold unforgiving ceiling of the tunnel.The tips of her antennae brushed against the cement of the ceiling. If even an insect can’t make it past this then how could anyone else their height do it?  
“Never mind!”

Violet climbed back into the subway. “There’s no way we can crawl out of this”

As she came back inside, one of the caribou carelessly shattered two windows in a haze. Glass scraped his hoof and he bled slightly. He yelled out “Damn mythical ass bitches!!”

Meanwhile, the shorter blue mitten crab was trying to grab at the lights. The taller green crustacean yanked some of the subway lights with his claws and smashed them to pieces.

“These guys are off their shits,” Bell thought to herself. She called out to Violet. “Did you try calling the emergency number yet?!?!”

“No, Bell, I can't!” Violet hollered back to her. “My phone’s completely dead!”

“Oh!” the beaver yelled again. “We don’t have a choice!”

She turned to everyone else.  
“We gotta fight them back, y'all”

“Bell, holy shit, are you fucking insane?!” Ponce gasped. “We could get infected with rabies, or tetanus, or COVID, or even death!”

Tabitha huffed. “I don’t normally fight, but if I have to…..”

“Are you only doing it because of Bell?!” Violet grabbed Tabitha and shook her around. “Well?!?!”

The cat slapped her face and got out of her grip. “It’s not that, Violet! It’s about us not dying like a bunch of animals!”

The disoriented homeless animals stumbled closer and closer. Three of them stunk like rotten produce while the other three reeked of garbage and dishwater.

“Fine!” Violet rolled her eyes. She grabbed a subway lamp. “Hey you, creeps! Nobody touches my Tabitha and lives!”

Violet smashed the subway lamp against the wall and threw the shards at the green mitten crab.

“Fuckin’ hell!” the crab screeched in agony as the glass punctured the soles of his feet. Blood trickled down and seeped onto the floor with each step he took. He grabbed Violet by both her left arms and snarled. “You little shit!”

Tobías grabbed a piece of wood and chucked it at the crab’s shin. He was forced to drop the butterfly as he clinged to his leg in pain.

Bell ducked as the caribou tried to grab her by the ears.  
“I don’t think so!”

She pulled her arm back and punched him in the knee as hard as she could. Bones crackled and the caribou screeched in agony. The maroon mammal kneeled down and cradled his right knee.

“How are y’all coming?” the beaver hollered to everyone else.

Ponce was struggling as Neopol held him in the crook of his elbow. “What do YOU think, Bell?!”

Toshi flipped in the air and smacked Neopol on the head with a two by four plank of wood. He grabbed Ponce by the arm and lifted him from the carnage.  
“Three down, three to go”

“Make that two!” a voice hollered from the back of the car.

Everybody turned around to see what was going on.

Rosebud hollered at the children. “I’m not trying to fight you guys! I don’t even want to fight!”

Neopol crawled up from the floor and snapped at her. “These little fuckers are trying to kill us though!”

“I don’t care about that, you dumbass!” the monarch butterfly screamed at him. Her cold black eyes stared down at him as she chewed him out. “The one thing I wanted today was to go to the shelter, get my shower, some decent food, maybe finally get a job from there!”

The six kids looked at each other in confusion.

“Yeah well these kids were in my way!” Neopol bickered.

Rosebud slapped him. “Quit sounding like my ex-husband! Now, Neopol, can we please get the fuck out of here without trying to kill somebody!!”

Neopol looked into her eyes. He blinked twice and twitched.  
“No” he said.

The sardine finally got off the floor and gave her the middle finger with his left hand. He curled his right hand into a fist, pulled it back, and whacked her right in the stomach.

The children cringed in disgust as Rosebud yelped and kneeled on the ground. Her four arms wrapped around her abdomen and she couldn’t get up from the impact.

The other four homeless animals exchanged looks, nodded, and carelessly ran out of the subway car and into the tunnel.

Neopol turned around and coldly grinned.  
“I don’t think you little bastards will tell anyone what happened here. Right?”

Bell glared at the repulsive sardine in front of her and her friends.  
“Who do you think you’re calling a bastard?” she rolled her eyes before yelling to her group. “Get ‘em!”

She handed Toshi and Ponce some two-by-four planks from the floor before whispering to Tabitha and Violet. Tobias had already crawled onto the ceiling and held onto the swinging lights with his life.

Tabitha pulled two bottles of perfume out of her bag and handed one to Violet.

Toshi sneaked past Neopol’s eyesight. He whacked the sardine in the back of his tail with the two-by-four.

Ponce whistled as loud as he could. Neopol turned around to face him. The chimera threw the plank at the sardine’s knees. Neopol winced in more pain as the wood smacked against his shins.

“You damn kids” he muttered to himself. As he tried to look at his attack, Violet and Tabitha leaped up and sprayed him in the mouth with perfume. Neopol coughed and sputtered loudly from the bitter taste.

After hacking up the scented oils, he climbed back up and tried to grab Tabitha by her arm. She ducked his arm and elegantly flipped backwards to avoid more confrontation with him.

A whistle came from the ceiling. Neopol glanced up at the terror above him.

“Revolución!” Tobías hollered as he swiftly dove down and landed on his feet. His tail uncurled and the scorpion’s stinger pierced through Neopol’s scaly upper back.

The sardine yelped from the burning sensation and crouched down. Luckily this scorpion was just a kid, otherwise he would've died right there on the subway.

“Fine! You fucking kids win! Just get outta here!” he begged amongst the pain ravaging his back.

As he winced and moaned from his sting, the six kids looked at each other.

“How are we gonna get outta here now?” Toshi asked.

Bell took a good look at the windows. “We’re breaking out the windows”

“Are you as high as those street bums?!” Toshi facepalmed. “We don’t even know where we are!”

Tobías glanced on his phone and typed quickly. “Just trust her” he said.

“Yeah!” Ponce exclaimed. “Now come on!”

Bell and Ponce walked over to the windows and smashed the glass with their wooden planks. They leaped out the busted up car and onto the ground. The duo saw twinkling and unmoving lights in the distance— it had to be the school station.

“Are you guys coming or what?!” the chimera hollered to everybody.

The other four kids crawled out of the car as well and met up with their friends.

A loud whistling ran from the right end of the track.

“Oh come on!” Violet complained from the noise. She sprinted away from the car and into the lighted tunnel. “Hurry up!” she snapped.

The rest of the kids began to run to her. Tobías’s skin glowed faintly as the lights grew dimmer and dimmer. The abandoned car sat still and creaked slightly.

As the middle schoolers sprinted to safety, the whistling grew louder and louder. It pierced through the subway tunnel. Everyones’ hearts were racing from adrenaline. Once they saw the station, the six kids jumped from the rails and onto the station platform.

“What the—“ Bell turned around to face the rails. “Everyone! It’s just a ghost train! Nothing’s there!”

“How horrifying!” Tabitha shuddered from the thought of haunted machinery.

A beep went off in Toshi’s pocket. The ferret pulled his phone out of his pocket. 9:15 AM. Fuck.

The kids ran to the stairs and sprinted up them to reach the ground floor. They were all panting and wheezing as they made it to the top.

“We’re almost there!!” Ponce yelled as he ran the hardest.

Everyone saw the ordinary brick building in front of them. The green digital sign in front was supposed to read “Welcome Back Pondovadia Students! Debate Club Cancelled This Week”, but instead, it clearly read “Mass Debate Club Comes This Week”.

Violet rolled her eyes from the raunchy saying while Ponce, Bell, and Toshi snickered to themselves.

“Good one, Thomas!” the ferret hollered to the goat and sheep taking a picture of their latest accomplishment.

The green and white sheep yelled “Thanks!”

The middle schoolers pushed the door through with all their force combined. After the door swung open, everyone looked for the classroom that read ‘Miss Linon’ as fast as they could.

“Ahi esta!” Tobías pointed when he saw the door.

The six children shoved through as they went to knock rapidly on the door.

A tall white bulldog in a pink cardigan and blue dress opened the door and chuckled. She had a pack of ice held up to her head in her other hand.

“Oh look, we got some stowaways, class!”

Fourteen other children looked at the surprise visitors--no wait, their classmates. They glanced at Bell and company as the six students made their way into their seats.

The bell finally rang. 9:30 AM.

Bell sighed in relief as she got her school tablet out.

“Now class, let’s finally start homeroom” Miss Linon sat down and typed away on her Fruut laptop. Her long black claws tapped away at the keyboard.  
“My name is Ellie Linon, but you’ll call me Miss Linon. Most of you aren’t familiar faces to me, but I‘ll know who everyone is soon enough. Yes?”

One of the kids, a lilac dolphin with two textured purple buns, raised her flipper. “Miss Linon, why do you have a pack of ice on your head?”

The teacher didn’t get up from her seat. She looked at her seating arrangement and nodded.

Ellie explained “Well, Leila, I was getting acquainted with a Mon Uni student last night. One of the creative writing majors— rude at first but she was a lot nicer after some beverages.”

Bell facedesked in embarrassment. This was going to be a hard rest of the day.  
—————

Chapter 4 preview  
——  
“Aster, holy fuck!”

The dog took his earbuds out and looked up from his reading to see someone run up to him.

“Oh, hey Chris!” he waved.

The porcupine set his bag on the table and sat down next to Aster. “You’re not gonna believe this!”

“What is it?” the canine asked, not looking up from his phone.


	4. Just a Funky Ol Shack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bell's birthday party is coming up, and her friends Chris and Aster have to get her the perfect present!

August 15

12:05 PM

It wasn’t an average Monday in Southwest Pondovadia Middle School. Due to last year’s snow days piling up, this Monday had to have classes. Most of the lunch tables inside were busy as ever with the sounds of conversation and chaos. Some students were looking at their phones and whispering to each other while others chowed down on lunch.

“Did you get invited too, Sandyna?”  
“Uhhh, Keira, of course I did! Kylie totally sent one to me in English!!”  
“Well I got mine from Daisy in geography— she said that it’s gonna be the best one yet. Nut’n Bust’n at one”  
“Awesome! I haven't been there all summer and I wanna win a new Peeky Pika plushie!”  
"Good luck with that one. But also I don't know what to get her for her birthday"  
"Did you trying asking her? I totally did and she said she's super into Blyned Jagwar!"  
"Blyned Jagwar? Isn't that the college band?"

Aster sat at a chrome lunch table by himself, munching away on a jalapeno pepper salad, portobello mushrooms, and a livestock burger topped with grilled avocado. A tall bottle of coconut juice was sitting next to his lunch.  
He was reading a Mon Uni blog post about the photography department winning an award at a national gallery somewhere out in Texas. Texas? Huh. Aster remembered when species population was his special interest at the time. It's been a while, but he still remembered that Texas had a higher amount of equines than the other forty nine states did.

“Asterrrrr! Aster, holy FUCK!”

The pup took his earbuds out and looked up from his reading to see someone run up to him.

“Oh, hey Chris!” he waved.

The porcupine frantically threw his bag on the table and sat down next to Aster. “You’re not gonna believe this!”

“What is it?” the canine asked, not looking up from his phone. "You got an A on your lesbian cheerleader paper?"

Chris pulled up a pic on his phone then nudged Aster to show him the pic. It was a light blue digital flyer with navy text. A few balloons were in the left corner.  
“No, no THAT. I only got a B+ on that thing. We just got invited to Bell’s birthday party this Saturday. It’s at Nut’n Bust’n in the north half”

Aster gasped and looked surprised. “No way! They just added an outside barbecue next to that place”

“I know, isn’t it awesome? Chris nodded as his short tail wagged.

“Yeah, but what are we gonna get her? I don’t even know what all she’s into” Aster looked confused. “I didn’t ask her much when we were on the ferris wheel a few weeks ago”

“Hmm…. A-ha! Ponce told me she’s the only one here who likes Blyned Jagwar” the porcupine brought up.

The canine was confused. “But aren’t they, well, a college band?”

“Yeah, they’re that band” Chris looked them up quickly on his phone. “And someone in this school said my ex-girlfriend’s dad is in that band”

“It has to be Maya, you know how that jerk is, making stuff up for the school news like she owns the place. I bet next week she's gonna say someone here is the mayor's kid” Aster finished his food quickly. “But hey, I have an idea on what to get Bell!”

“What is it?” Chris asked.

“My cousin, Carnegie!” the dog began to explain. “His friend Ander is a really good painter! He even painted one of my best photos for me this summer! Well, before you and Joan broke up, of course.”

“That sounds like a good idea! Let’s do it!” Chris fistbumped Aster. “If we can find their hangout that is”

The two boys laughed a bit before the bell rang. It was club hour for both of them— photography for Aster and pep club for Chris. The day went on for two more hours before school was finally let out. The bell rang loudly and echoed through all four floors.

—————

2:30 PM

Chris waved to the rest of his geometry class before running out the door to meet his close friend.

“Ready to find your cousin?” the brunet called out to the redhead.

Aster looked up and nodded. “Yeah, they usually hang out in the boiler room!”

He pulled up a subsectional map of campus— the basement floor. It looked rugged and unfinished compared to the other floors. A bunch of white Xs marked some of the rooms.

“I’ve never been to the boiler room” Chris pointed out on the map. “Then again, who even has classes there? Oh wait, "sex ed extra credit" from the eighth graders”

“Wait, sex ed has extra credit? I didn't know _that_ ,” Aster shrugged. He pointed to some wooden planks leaning against the red brick wall. “I heard if you go past those planks, you get to the basement level easier”

“Well let’s see how that works!” Chris grinned. “I can’t wait to tell Bell about this in pep club tomorrow”

The two boys moved the loose planks to the side. They gasped as they uncovered a large gaping hole.

“It’s— it’s amazing!” Aster’s eyes widened in surprise from how huge the hole was. He crawled inside the gash and looked around it. Dirt fell off the top of the hole and landed in his curly hair.

Chris climbed into the entrance easily. He double checked outside to cover the hole back up with wood.

“Alright, let’s go!”

The duo crawled through the tunnel. The faint humming of a machine echoed through the dirt-ridden hole. Had to be the gopher sisters’ doing, Aster thought to himself. Who else could dig an entire entrance early in the morning just days before school started. Chris and Aster reached the end of the treacherous tunnel— a smooth wooden slide!

They slid down the contraption together— fortunately there were no splinters!

“Wow!” Aster gasped in amazement.

The middle school basement was its own unique sense of space. The grey floor had a trail caked in hot pink paint and ripped up white paper— something very few animals used in Pondovadia.  
The walls were a dull brown but had dozens of wood sticks prodding out of the cement. Some were chewed down while others looked fresh. No windows at all, but plenty of iron lamps dangling from the ceiling. Only a few doors decorated each side of the wall. Unlike the first levels, none of the doors had kitschy signs or windows to look at. Instead, just one door had anything on it— BOILER ROOM scratched in deep with sharp claws.

“Look at this!” Chris exclaimed. He pulled a used blue marker from the floor. “This is so primitive”

“Yeah….” Aster was still in awe. “Hey, here it is!”

He pointed at the boiler room door. “This is where they hang out!”

The two boys walked over. Past the door, loud strumming could be heard.

The dog knocked twice on the door. Footsteps came to the other side.

“What’s the password?” the deep voice asked the visitor.

Aster rolled his eyes. “Carnegie, it’s Aster! I don’t think I need a password to see my own family. Well, do I?”

“......Whatever. It’s just you”

The door swung wide open. A medium-height brown furred fox with long flowing orange hair was facing the sixth graders. His gold eyes pierced through the air. He was wearing a white long sleeved bodysuit with two belts buckled around his waist. He had one hand in his gold sleeveless cardigan pocket and the other holding a new black acoustic guitar.

“Huh.” Carnegie looked unimpressed at the younger boys looking at him. “Didn’t think you had friends”

Chris chuckled a bit. “Well we never see you around here!”

“Carnegie, who is it?!” another voice called to him.

The fox turned around “Ander, babe, it’s just my cousin and his friend!”

“Vraiment” the other voice scoffed.

Aster and Chris walked into the boiler room and took a good look around. The maroon boiler was squealing and coated in various paint stains, as did the walls and ceiling. Crumpled up papers covered in graphite scattered the floors. Broken guitar picks and snapped paint brushes were in the cluster of trash. Three zebra-print beanbags were flopped onto the floor. Snack bag wrappers were stuffed in the corner while energy drink cans littered another corner.

A white rat with black hair in a ponytail looked up from his paper canvas.  
“What do you want from us?” he asked without looking up from the painting— a cold blue pegasus in a white suit, crushing a city in his bare hooves.

Chris sat down on a worn down bean bag and spread his legs. “We wanted to ask you a favor, Ander”

“Finalement, it was about fucking time” the rodent thought to himself before looking over at the blue porcupine. “So what is it?”

Aster picked up a yellow marker and fidgeted with the cap. “Well...You take commissions?”

Ander gasped in surprise. His beret nearly fell off his head.  
“You— you mean it, right?!”

The sixth graders nodded.

“I— I didn’t think I’d make it this far!” he spoke to himself. “For hell’s sake nobody has commissioned me for weeks now! This had better not be a sick joke… I mean, yeah! Of course I do! So who’s the commission for?”

Aster pulled up the invitation. “It’s for Bell. Her birthday is this weekend!”

“The beaver? Oh, the one with the hot sister?” Ander asked before Carnegie blushed angrily and facepalmed in embarrassment. “I mean, the beaver! Yeah. Yeah, I can do it. Full color and background, right?”

“Yeah!” Aster grinned. “We wanted to see if you could do that band Blyned Jagwar!”

“The college band? Hmmm, are you sure it’s for Bell?” the rat sat down on his wood stool. “Yeah, I suppose I can take this commission. But I must warn you, I don’t take regular payment”

Aster tilted his head “You mean like you take paper cash?”

Ander shook his head. “Not that irregular, dumbass!” He got up from his seat and wrote something on a small notepad. “If it’s my usual eighteen by twenty canvas, I’m going to need three ounces of Purple Haze, two Dark Side of the Moon, and four Sergeant Pepper”

He handed the sixth graders the paper note. “Get me everything, and you got yourself a birthday painting”

“Well why can’t you get it yourself?” Chris asked. Aster put the sticky note into his sleeveless hoodie pocket.

Carnegie rolled his eyes in annoyance. This Chris guy is a total smartass, he thought to himself.

“Because, Christopher” Ander huffed and crossed his arms. “I got grounded over my latest painting, and I can’t get my fix if I’m grounded, non”

"The one with the naked lady?" Chris asked before Carnegie and Ander facepalmed.

"It wasn't a naked lady, you pervert! It was a rendition of the Birth of Venus who HAPPENED to be nude!" Ander snapped. 

Aster shrugged and looked at Chris. “Works for me!”

“Same here” Chris nodded. “We’ll get your stash, Ander!”

“Génial” Ander flashed a rare smile.

Carnegie sat down on the bean bag and strummed his guitar. “And let me know when you get it”

“Alright!” the porcupine nodded. He walked over to the door. “Seeya guys later!”

The two boys left the boiler room and closed the door tightly. They retraced their steps back to the main floor. Chris kicked the planks of wood down and grabbed Aster’s wrist as he leaped out of the tunnel. The only footsteps heard down the hallway were that of the suckerfish janitor.

———-  
August 16  
4:52 AM

Aster was rolling around in his bed from a lack of sleep. The blue covers were loose and comfortable. His damp hair stuck tightly to his head and his pink and black striped pajamas were sweaty already. Questionable noises were coming from the master bedroom. He nearly fell off his bed as he grabbed his phone from the floor. The canine began to text Chris.  
———

ASTER: Chris u awake????  
CHRIS: Yeah dude, what’s up?  
ASTER: !!! I cant sleep dude!! Something’s loud in my parent’s doom!!  
CHRIS: How loud?  
ASTER: It sounds like my mom got hurt and my dad is pissed about it!! !  
CHRIS: That sucks! You wanna come over here instead? My bed's got enough room for two animals  
ASTER: Cant. Carnegie’s sleeping at the bedroom door  
CHRIS: That’s pretty rough. Wanna skip school with me tomorrow? I can get Tabitha to catch us up.  
ASTER: !! Sure!!  
—————

9:05 AM

Chris knocked loudly on the door to Aster’s apartment. It read “807” on the gold plate hanging from the door.  
The canine swung the door open.

“Hey!” he waved to his friend. “You ready?”

“Yeah!”  
Aster threw his leather backpack over his shoulder, walked out his apartment, locked the door, and grinned.  
“So, where are we going first?”

Chris pulled up a map on his phone.

“We gotta go to the Coglen District” he pointed at the area circled in red. “Then we’ll look there for whatever Ander asked for”

“Alright!” Aster nodded.

The duo walked outside the apartment complex and headed down the block.

Chris groaned in annoyance as his stomach growled. “I didn’t get breakfast yet, you wanna get something too?”

Aster was fidgeting with a small cube in his hands. “Sure! I didn’t eat either”

The two boys stopped at Changa Rito’s. The place’s dining area was packed with animals sitting down and devouring breakfast. The restaurant was decorated with yellow floral garlands strewn across the white walls, cacti on the tables, and red wireless speakers hanging from the ceiling.

Chris and Aster sat down together at one of the tables. The porcupine pulled out his phone and typed in the burrito place’s website. He began to put his order in— a medium ‘slam dunk’ breakfast burrito and a tall coconut water.

“Hey Aster, what are you getting?” he asked his friend as he typed the first order in.

The dog took his earbuds out and looked up from the table.  
“The medium ‘mean greens’ order and strawberry juice. And hold the tomatoes but double the avocado”

The porcupine finished putting that order in.

Five minutes later, a bright orange goldfish in a dark blue uniform walked over to the table. He delivered their orders and went back to the kitchen area.

Aster picked his burrito off the teal Fiesta plate and nibbled at the edge of the tortilla. Meanwhile, Chris dug into his food and was already halfway finished with it.

“Is this place great or what?!” Chris grinned as he continued to chew his slam dunk— a whole wheat tortilla filled with fajita strip livestock, fluffy scrambled livestock eggs, peppers and onions, and chipotle hot sauce.

Aster nodded and enjoyed his mean greens— a spinach wrap filled with grilled avocado, ground livestock, garlic and herb livestock cheese, sauteéd green bell peppers, and verde hot sauce.

Meanwhile, back at one of the Southwest Middle classmates…

“Aster? Aster Borealis?” Miss Linon called out to her classroom. She looked at the two empty desks in her class of twenty as she typed in one hand and sipped some coffee.

Bell and Ponce were whispering to each other while Toshi was looking at pretty tapestries on his phone.

“That game last night fucking sucked”  
“I know! Mon Uni’s coach blows this year”  
“He can’t coach out of a wet paper bag”

Leila raised her hand. “He told me this morning that he’s out sick, ma’am!”

“Thanks, Leila” the teacher nodded as she typed into her computer. “Now, what about Christopher Rothschild? Is he sick too or skipping?”

Violet whispered to Tabitha, who rolled her eyes at her friend. “He’s obviously skipping to do parkour”

Back at Changa Rito’s….

“That was delicious!” Aster grinned after he finished his coconut water. “Now let’s go to Coglen District”

“Yep” Chris nodded.

The two boys grabbed their bags and left through the crowd of animals. After they found the subway station and took two seats, they waited on the Frostlane Line to roll in.

A voice echoed through the speakers on the station.

“FROSTLANE LINE IS NOW BOARDING FROM SEDIMENTARY STATION TO COGLEN STATION. PLEASE DO NOT PUSH OTHERS TO GET IN”

“That’s us”  
Aster got up from his seat. He and Chris walked together to the indigo train and boarded safely. They sat down in the middle row and waited for the train to take off.

Fifteen minutes later…

“NOW ARRIVING AT COGLEN STATION AND DISTRICT. THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING PONDOVADIA SUBWAYS”

After leaving the station, Chris and Aster walked up the stairs and took a good look at Coglen District.

The entire district was a paradise of nature and urban development. Vines wrapped around at least half the buildings. Rhododendron bushes in pink and blue bloomed in neatly planted lines. Blossom petals flew around in the warm August wind. Trees shook in the wind, causing more petals to swirl around.

A small mechanical buzzing sound echoed through the air.

Aster watched the buzzing come closer— a small metallic robotic creature landed on the palm of his paw. It resembled an ancient green lacewing; a species that evolved with anthropomorphic qualities like ninety-nine percent of the Animalia kingdom. These cybernetic inventions were created by top primate scientists in post-war to continue pollination of plant life.

“This is new” Aster glanced down at the robot insect. He read “POLLINATOR MODEL 7AC3” on the main body.

Chris watched as the lacewing Pollinator flew away from them.

“So where did Ander say to go?” Aster asked.

The porcupine looked upwards. “I think here”

They walked into a nearby skyscraper. After passing through the door, they gasped and looked around the main floor. Plants hung everywhere from the white ceiling and walls. Some were thin little vines while others were thick bushy sculptures. The marble floor was hard yet fluffy carpet curled around the entrance.

Chris read through the sticky note.

“BLOOM N SHACK DEPARTMENT STORE, @ COGLEN DISTRICT— 3 PURPLE HAZE, 2 DARK SIDE MOON, 4 SGT PEPPER”

“His writing is way too fancy” Aster pointed out.

The boys looked around the floor. There had to be something telling where weed is at. All they saw was a sign telling the basics of each floor. Ground floor was just for entrance, one through nine listed off all sorts of plant related matter, from growing food to romantic bouquets, and a rooftop for dining in fusion cuisine—Korean tacos, tandoori kebab, cherry blossom trifle.

“Nothing about weed. Damn” Chris whispered to himself as he glanced up and down the blue sign.

Aster walked closer to the digital information sign. He heard the ground shake slightly under his sneakers. Weird, he thought to himself.

The floor shook again. A crack grew in the tiles.

“Huh”  
Chris turned around to see the growing crack. He stepped closer to where Aster was.

Just as he stepped on the crack, the floor started to violently crumble. The tile split in half and the boys yelled as they fell through the hole. Chris fell through first and landed on his backside. Aster followed suit, falling onto his stomach and on top of Chris. The middle schoolers blushed slightly after the collapse.

The canine climbed off the porcupine and shook dirt and tile out of his curly mop of hair.

Chris gasped as he looked around the barely-lit room. The walls and floor were cobalt blue and scruffed up. All sorts of crops of plants were scattered everywhere. Some were short and bright purple, others were dull green and brushed up against the ceiling. The only lighting was coming from a faraway table. Some of the lighting was a pale yellow lamp, while the rest was neon green and off of the pretty pink pig at the counter.

“Holy shit” the porcupine whispered to himself.

Aster stumbled around in the dark. He darted his paw in the air to grab something. Eventually, his hand landed on a wooden pillar.

“Can I help y’all out with somethin’?” the pig called out.

The boys looked over and walked to the source of light. A tall pale pink pig with black spots and curly green hair was sorting through some stuff on the desk. She looked up at them.

“Now who in the hell are y’all getting sweet leaf for?” her Southern accent drawled out.

Chris handed her the note. “We have a pickup here”

“Hmm….” the weed employee adjusted her blue glasses to read closer. “So the usual for Emmanuel Polnareff. Yeah, yeah we got his stash here. Twenty one eighty.”

A light rumble was shaking above the ceiling.

Aster pulled a card out of his pocket. He handed it over to the sow and watched as she rang the card through. She wrapped up the plants in a cardboard box, duct taped it together, and handed it to Chris.

The rumbling grew louder, causing everyone to look up at the ceiling. Pieces of marble crumbled and fell to the floor.

“Just another damn Tuesday” the pig said to herself as she moved a tile to the side and climbed into a secret hideaway.

“Run!!!” Chris yelled.

He put the cardboard box in his indigo messenger bag and dashed away with Aster from the falling roof. A larger chunk of floor crashed in front of them. Fortunately, no cannibal clusters were crushed so far.

The two boys screamed as they kept dodging each and every large piece falling down. Some floor chunks were only a few inches while others rivalled the pig employee in size.

Chris saw a ladder stapled to one of the walls. “Finally!”

He grabbed Aster by the hand and sprinted to where the ladder was. Larger and more frequent pieces fell to the ground.  
The duo climbed up the ladder as fast as they could, just barely avoiding the last clump of ceiling.

After reaching what was left of the first floor and getting off the ladder, the sixth graders were panting hard from the adrenaline. Fortunately, the area near the entrance was just fine, but it was gonna take at least a few days to fix the rest up.

“I’m never doing that again” Aster wiped some dust off his forehead.

“But at least we got the stash!” Chris smiled a bit.

The puppy checked the time. One fifteen pm. Perfect.

The boys dashed out of the department store and sprinted back to the subway station.

———-

4:30 PM

Carnegie was walking home from detention— an incident involving silly string, Sandyna's sunshine print lighter, and the boiler room. He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to see his cousin.

“I got the stuff!” Aster’s ears perked up and he was wagging his tail. He handed the fox a package.

The older male sniffed the air and looked closely. “Is that so?” He tore open the box and looked at the little vials of weed. Yep, these were the ones Ander asked for. The vials were a translucent blue and filled with the exact amount and strains.

“Hey thanks” Carnegie patted Aster on the head. “I’ll let him know it's in tomorrow, he already started the thumbnail sketch by the way”

———-

August 18

9:32 AM

“......And lunch today will be grilled sky livestock and strawberry salad” the smooth voice droned through the school. The pastel ocean sunfish adjusted his black glasses then the microphone. “And now, Poncio Ramirez has a special announcement for today”

“Thanks, Ray,” Ponce said to the speaker. “Sixth graders, listen up! My best friend Bell’s birthday is today, and I’d like to announce that we’re having a party at Nut’n Bust’n Saturday at one! If you didn’t get an invitation yet, see me, Bell, or Toshi today at lunch for one!”

Ray smiled a little bit. The seventh grader cleared his throat  
“And the pep club is hosting a rally tomorrow after lunch and until school ends. Be there, be square, and let's go Meteors!”

————

August 20, 302X

1:15 PM

The Nut’n Bust’n arena was bustling with dozens of sixth graders. Some children were playing arcade games while others were watching a Mon Uni football game against Hatman Kansas. Even more animals were munching on a delicious spread of food, ranging from burgers and fries, a taco bar, a remix soda fountain, a chocolate fountain, a fondue fountain, and a spread of cookies.

Chris and Aster were whispering to each other as they walked to the entrance. The puppy carried a beige box of cardboard wrapped with silver duct tape.

“I really hope she likes this. Ander wouldn’t let me even see it”  
“How come?”  
“He said it would be better as a surprise”  
“But it’s for Bell, not us”  
“I know. He’s so pretentious AND he called me a pervert, but making Bell happy is worth it”

The bouncer, a tall muscular orange and yellow squirrel in a beige Nut’n Bust’n uniform with ‘Sheldon’ on the nametag, had his arms crossed.

“Names?” he asked in a deep voice.

The porcupine looked over at the bouncer.  
“Chris Rothschild and Aster Borealis”

Sheldon checked his phone for the virtual list.  
“Hmm…..Yeah, you kids are on the list”

He lifted up the rope so the duo could walk in.

Bell waved from her table. She had a “Birthday Legend” hat nestled atop her head, and her large brown bow was on the table.  
“Chris! Aster! Glad y'all are here!”

Toshi was sitting next to her and eating some decadent looking cake.  
“Presents are to the right” he pointed to the pile of gifts. “And help yourself to some cake! It’s almond and coconut flavor!”

“Yeah, I heard it’s y'alls favorite, Aster!” Bell nodded.

The canine grinned and blushed. “Aww, Bell, but it’s your birthday!”

Chris walked over with the large present and set it upright with the other pile of gifts. He looked over at the beautiful cake on the table. It was a five-tier fluffy coconut cake with a thin amount of white icing, shredded coconut and almonds decorating the creamy icing, and “HAPPY BIRTHDAY BELL” written on the top in bright blue icing. A dozen blue candles were poking out of the middle tier.

Thirty minutes later….

Toshi whistled to the crowd of classmates. It was gift time. The other kids crowded around as Bell was handed gifts by the dozen.

Her eyes widened as she opened the first gift— a nifty white baseball cap with “The Spark Plugs ‘97” written in blue stitching on the brim.  
“Awww thank you Tabitha! How’d y'all even know I’m into that band?”  
Bell took her Birthday Legend cap off and put on the Spark Plugs hat.

Tabitha was beaming in confidence— the stitching took her twelve hours and her right paw had a bandage wrapped around it.  
“Well they seemed just like something you’d be into”

Bell grinned.  
“Thanks y'all again!”

She opened the second present— a black phone case with colorful guitar picks glued to the side.  
“Aw, you shouldn’t have!”

Joan crossed her arms and nodded. “I spent all of detention making it myself. It's no biggie”

“Why thank you, Joan!” Bell’s tail wagged.

She grabbed the third present and tore it open.  
Bell gasped loudly from just how beautiful it was.

It was the painting Chris and Aster commissioned— a recreational shot of Blyned Jagwar playing Kanawa Stadium at night.

The skies were dark and filled with glowing stars. The current lead singer, Jaggart Ward, was howling into the microphone while wearing a Union Jack tank top and black ripped pants. Their lead guitarist, Pascal Terrarium, was shredding on a Fender Stratocaster. The rhythm guitarist, Leon Ardios, was in a comically oversized schoolboy uniform while playing his Gibson SG. Their bassist, Yuuki Sensoha, was playing his Rickenbacker 4001 bass with his long spotted tail. And last but not least, Judias Katze, their drummer, tossing his drumsticks into the crowd. The stadium was silver and had several items thrown on stage. And in the bottom right corner was a white signature written in cursive-- "With love, Ander Polnareff". In the back of the painting, "The Rocka Rolla Fantasy" was written in black marker and on the top left corner.

“It’s, it’s—“ Bell stammered before fainting in amazement. "I- wow, I-"

The other sixth graders crowded around in concern after she passed out.

“She hated it” Toshi snarked before everyone laughed in amusement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry there’s no new chapter preview this week, I had to rewrite the whole thing!


	5. This is the Time, This is the Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An old acquaintance from Bell’s past shows up and reveals a different side to Bell to the whole school.

August 30, 302X

9:35 AM

It was a typical Tuesday morning and all was busy in Miss Linon’s classroom.  
Bell, Ponce and Toshi were reading a seinen manga about a medieval European swordsman, a few boys were playing tabletop football, and some of the girls were gossiping in a circle.

“Did you all hear? There’s a new girl in our grade, but what I heard is that she's in Ms. Milkiwein's homeroom”  
“Oh my. What animal is she?”  
“Violet, does it really matter what kind she is?”  
“Well sorry for wanting to know, Tabitha, jeez!”  
“I heard somewhere that she’s a donkey”  
“A donkey, huh. I don’t think we have any donkeys in this school before her”  
“We have to invite her to aesthetic club!”  
“Violet, you dumbass, we’re not inviting her today!”  
“Hey, don't call me a dumbass, Leila!”  
“Try saying that when you failed that math test last week”

Miss Linon opened the door and walked into the class. Her eyes were baggier than usual and her wavy dark brown bob cut was messy. She was wearing a baggy white Blyned Jagwar sweater, black leggings, and pink flats without socks. In one paw, she carried a thirty two ounce bright blue hydro flask. In the other, she had some pills.

The bulldog sat down at her desk and took the pills with a gulp of water.

“I’m never going to a concert on a Monday” she groaned to herself.

Most of the kids started snickering, making Ellie Linon roll her eyes.  
“Laugh all you want, kids” she frowned. “But I had a great time at that Blyned Jagwar concert”

More snickering rose up.  
“I don’t get paid enough for this….” she muttered to herself as she carelessly took attendance.

————  
12:01 PM

A gold donkey with maroon hair in a fluffy braid walked into the busy lunchroom. She looked around at her surroundings-- all sorts of animals she never saw before. Some of them had beaks and wings while others had four arms and antennae! Hell, she couldn't even figure out what kind of animal some of the kids were supposed to be! Her heart was racing like no tomorrow as she didn't see anybody she knew well enough from her classes. Oh well, time to sit alone again like in her old school. Nothing would change for her...

She carried a small beige picnic basket covered in an apple print cloth in her hands. After finding an empty table away from the rest of the kids, she sat down, crossed her legs, and opened up her picnic basket— it was filled with a bottle of apple cider, some cress sandwiches, a miniature charcuterie board, and a few bite-size cinnamon carrot cakes. A note was on the bottle.  
“Good luck on the first day, pumpkin! Your ma and I love ya very much— Pa”

Just as she was about to sip from her bottle of cider, a voice called to her.

“Yooooo hooooo!! New girl!!!!!”

The donkey turned around from her lunch to see someone run up to her. It was a perky looking cream shiba inu— the one from social studies class with the pastel clothes and triangle barrette. She was eagerly bouncing on her tiptoes, her platinum blond bob flouncing in the air.

“Heyyy!! You're the new girl, right?” the puppy twirled in her spot. “What are you doing alone?! You should totally come sit with us, we have space at our table if you want to!!”

The donkey was quiet and took a real good look at her classmate. Hm. She liked her forwardness. Not at all like back home, she thought to herself. She packed her lunch back into her basket and got up.  
“Okay?”

“Woo!” the dog yipped to herself. She turned around before babbling about herself as they walked to another lunch table.

  
“So anyways, I’m Sandyna Sanchez! I’m the secretary of the Aesthetic Club here, so I’m kind of a big deal here. I’m into vaporwave, obviously, just look at my clothes! But I also love anime, iced tea, the aesthetic club, and lots lots LOTS more! Ooh! My dad’s a Mon Uni professor— he teaches multimedia, whatever the hell that is, and my mom’s a secretary for one of the attorneys here! They're both really nice animals once you get to know them! Oh and I'm an only child, like most of the kids here! So what about you, new girl? What’s your life story?”

The new girl was stunned just hearing Sandyna and her forward personality. Luckily they were almost at the table— a stylish cream cat, a slender purple butterfly, intellectual lilac dolphin, and quiet white rhinoceros were sitting there minding their own business.

“Oh, well” she looked down at her hooves. “My name’s Jennifer Hinden”

“That’s a super cool name! I was named after one of my mom's best friends! Oh and this one friend of mine told me, she doesn't go here btw, that girl donkeys are called jennies” Sandyna was revved up again. She turned to face everyone else, still bouncing on her fingertips.  
“Yoohoo! Tabitha! Look who I found!! It's the new girl!!!”

Jennifer got flustered at how ridiculously stylish everyone else was. The cat was wearing a custom sewn green dress with matching hairpins and earrings, the butterfly had a sky blue poncho over a white lace shirt and dark purple shorts, the dolphin was wearing a white button-up and a pink skirt with suspenders, and the rhino had on a pink and purple sweater with a black skirt.   
In comparison, to herself anyways, she dressed somewhat plain— a peach button-up shirt with a red collar, a plaid red knee-length skirt, dark red strapped heels, and a red bow keeping her braid together.

“Uh…” Jennifer gulped as she took an empty seat and set down her lunch basket. “Hi?”

Everyone else looked at her.

Sandyna sat down and drank a tall bottle of iced tea.  
“Well Jennifer, you obviously know me, but like lemme introduce my besties!"

The dog pointed towards the cat. "That’s Tabitha, she’s the president of the aesthetic club, super elegant, and really smart. Oh, and she can sew, but not crochet or knit!”

“Pleased to meet you” Tabitha nodded.

The puppy nudged the butterfly “And this is Violet, she’s our treasurer, the creator of skycore, and our professional snarker!”

“Hi” Violet waved without saying much.

“This here is Leila, our vice-president, into lovecore, and the smartest one here! She helps us all with our homework AND her mom works at one of the museums downtown so yeah!”

“Hey Jennifer" Leila waved to her.

“Keira, our club photographer, our fanfiction writer, and a total pastel goth!”

“What’s going on?” the rhino perked up.

Sandyna did a little twirl “And me! Secretary, princess of vaporwave, and the school chatterbox according to this asshole named Maya!”

Jennifer was a little overwhelmed by all this information. “So, wait. Who’s Maya?”

Leila nudged her and pointed to a different table before whispering. A soft grey moth in a black dress and her hair in a bow shaped bun was sitting alone and glaring at everybody around her. She was angrily typing away on a laptop.

“See that moth over there? _That’s_ Maya. She runs Meteor by the Minute, our school paper, but she’s pretty condescending and a total liar just for quick views, so we only read it in spite.”

“Just how rude is she?” Jennifer asked after she finished her lunch.

Violet was drinking a honey and nectar protein smoothie. " _Incredibly_ rude. She uses Meteor by the Minute as a way to trash talk nearly everybody in the sixth grade. Hypocritically enough, both her parents work in one of the local papers. At least her parents are in her life though..."

The donkey was curious “Is there anyone she hasn’t blabbed about yet?”

Tabitha flipped her hair  
“As far as I know, only the most popular kid in the sixth grade”

“Who?” Jennifer asked.

Leila pointed at a table with at least thirty animals crowded around. Bell was in the middle of the table telling everyone about when she raided the Unknown Knotts lake. She had several stones in her hands and held them for the curious crowd to see.  
"And then we went back to the lake afterwards and got these! Y'all wanna hold them?"

  
“See the blue beaver? That's Isabell Woodrow. But everyone here calls her Bell” the dolphin explained to her

Sandyna adjusted her triangle hairpin.  
“She’s super totally good with other animals, like Mayor Canadendrum! And strong! Like she saved this one girl from drowning in a lake!”

“It wasn’t _drowning_ , Sandyna” Leila scoffed. “She found one of our classmates, Minthe, in the Unknown Knotts lake and saved her from her own parents. Now she lives in a foster care program. Poor girl, really.”

“And there was the time she led me and Tabs out of a subway full of drug lords” Violet brought up. “It was scary but we made it out alive”

“Hm” Jennifer put a hoof on her chin and frowned slightly. “That doesn’t sound like the Bell _I_ knew back in Oakland”

The other girls looked at her in surprise.

“Huh? You knew Bell?! Wait what was she like?! Was she like super shy, or really selfish, or--” Sandyna gasped in surprise.

Jennifer glared and crossed her arms. “The Bell I knew was a jerk. Back in my old town of Oakland, she and her friends made fun of me all the time!”

“But why? The Bell I know is a real sweetheart” Tabitha was still stunned, but interested in listening.

The donkey continued. “Well back in Oakland, most animals there are rodents like her. And I’m a donkey. I obviously stood out there and most kids there were completely speciesist to me— calling me names, kicking me out of school clubs, vandalism. A few kids even got expelled over it. But noooo, Bell only got 2 days of detention just before she moved here to Pondovadia so she never did her time”

Violet was confused “You mean that Bell did all _that_?! Wow.”

Jennifer facehoofed. “Not _all_ of that, Violet. She was just the middleman to Marianne and Cecilia, my old enemies, back then started the whole thing for no damn reason except to be jerks other something as stupid as our species”

The other girls looked at each other in silence.

“Looks like we’re going to have to have Trial Day,” Leila pointed out.

“What’s Trial Day?” the donkey asked.

Keira pulled up a page on her black phone. Her baby blue Peeky Pika phone charm dragged against the table. She then handed the phone to Jennifer  
“Trial Day is a Pondovadian custom here; we pick a day and time and then host our own trials like on law shows”

Sandyna nodded and was playing with a blue cube. “It’s really fun! Unless you’re the one in trouble” she giggled. “We’ve done it since freakin kindergarten! Our one classmate, Benjamin, he's an octopus by the way, his dad is a lawyer so that’s how we know what we’re doing!”

“Okay first, do any of you have classes with this Benjamin?” Jennifer uncrossed her arms then handed the phone back. “And second, how _do_ I do Trial Day then?”  
————

1:05 PM

Pep club was about to end in ten minutes. Bell and Chris were planning a way to start fundraisers for the hockey team.

“Should we do a bake sale?”  
“No, the school oven broke, remember?”  
“Oh yeah, when Sandyna was trying to help hide Thomas and Kevin from detention! Sticker sale?”  
“Hmm….”  
"Mon Uni kids _love_ stickers! I could sell some to Klarisse then she could give them out to her students"

And then Bell’s phone buzzed. It was a direct message from Benjamin. What now, she thought to herself. It read:  
“JENNIFER HINDEN NEEDS YOU FOR TRIAL DAY THIS FRIDAY RIGHT AFTER SCHOOL. REASON: BEING A JERK. IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT, SAY SO AND WE WILL RESCHEDULE. YOUR FATE IS INEVITABLE.— Benjamin"

“Oof” Bell cringed from reading the wall of text. She rolled her eyes “First Trial Day of the year, and from Jennifer”

“Who’s Jennifer?” Chris asked as he read through the wall of text.

A fluffy teal hamster with spiky pink hair and plaid punk clothes crossed his legs on the desk.  
“I think she’s the new girl here,” he explained. “The donkey, I think. I have social studies with her”

“Ohhhhhh, okay Rodney” Bell gasped before sitting down and dropping her phone on the table. Fortunately, her phone didn't crack at all.  
“Aw fuck. I know her”

Chris looked confused.

Bell explained  
“Way before I moved here, I……” she sighed in embarrassment. “I was part of this huge bullying group in Oakland, and Jennifer was our main target.”

"Damn, that sucks for y'all" a blond mongoose barked out.

"Tell me about it Robby" she yelled back to her classmate. "I don't know if I should get Ponce or Toshi as my lawyer!"

———-

August 31, 302X

12:10 PM

“Trial Day, huh? It’s been a while” Toshi tapped his tablet pen up and down the table.

“I know” Bell looked down at her empty tray of lunch. “I’ve never been the one on trial before. What’s it like?”

The ferret remembered the first and only time he was on trial— back in fourth grade, he and Tabitha were both accused of cheating off somebody’s math test; either Millie, Belinda, or Carly. He knew it was a rabbit who caused the accusation, but he couldn’t remember which one. The trial had lasted an entire Saturday and ended with somebody throwing a tantrum, another kid throwing a book at somebody's face, and Millie flipping him off.

“It’s complicated.”

Ponce finally came over to their table and waved. He had a bandage on the palm of his hand.  
“Hey sorry guys! Tobias got in a fight with one of the rabbits over the last free water bottle and I had to intervene. What’d I miss?”

“Well I need a lawyer for Trial Day” Bell explained. “My old classmate, Jennifer, she went and accused me of speciesism and I’m screwed”

“No, you’re not. I’ll be your lawyer!” Ponce suggested as he patted her on the shoulder. “I’m a chimera so if anything, you’ll look less speciesist in comparison”

“Hey thanks Ponce” the beaver smiled a bit. “Toshi, you wanna help?”

The ferret nodded “Sure. I’ll dig up some evidence on our side.”

Over at another table….

“So, first I get a lawyer, then I’m ready for court?” Jennifer asked as she read the rules of Trial Day.

Keira nodded.  
“Yes. I’ve never been in Trial Day before so I'll be your lawyer”

"Yeah, get the unexperienced kid as your lawyer. Real smart idea, Kei" Violet scoffed.

The group looked at her.   
"What?"

————-  
September 2, 302X

12:05 PM

The entire lunchroom was busy as always, with nearly every side and corner bustling with conversation.  
“I can’t believe we’re finally having Trial Day, y'all”  
“I know! This is our first one all year!”  
“Who do y'all think is gonna win it though?”  
“I have to say Bell. She’s the most popular kid in the sixth grade”  
“Yeah but Jennifer did sound completely pissed off in English class though. I think she might win”  
“Either way this is gonna be good”

The furious clicking of heeled sandals came over to one of the tables. A grey poodle moth stepped over and crossed both pairs of arms.

“Jamie Valhallen, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” a snotty high voice yelled at one of the tables.

A tall beige cow with long white and silver horns, wavy red hair in low pigtails, and red glasses looked over at the moth.  
“Having lunch?” she asked as she held a sandwich. “It is lunchtime”

“I know that it's lunchtime, smartass” Maya hissed. “I’m asking why the fuck aren’t you working on Trial Day!”

Jamie looked even more confused. “I thought you were working on it!”

Maya facepalmed in anger. “I’m not going to get involved in Trial Day, dumbass! I think it’s stupid and childish to still have such a thing like that! We’re not in elementary school, remember? If we're gonna trash talk each other like a bunch of animals, that’s what the fucking Meteor by the Minute comment section is for. Now, Jamie, quit putzing around or I’m firing you!”

She turned her nose up and walked off to her table of one.

“Geez, what crawled up her ass and died there?” the goat at the table whispered to everyone else.

“Jokes on her, Kevin, I can’t get fired from a school paper,” Jamie snorted in laughter.  
————

2:30 PM

The bell rang loudly through middle school. Nearly all the sixth graders were pushing and shoving each other to get as fast as possible to the football and track field.

A pastel green octopus in a striped blue shirt and a galaxy print snapback suction cupped his way to the center of the field. He stood on a cardboard box podium and hollered in a discarded piece of pipe.  
“All parties, arrange your positions!”

Most of the sixth graders sat on the sidelines surrounding the field, while Bell and Jennifer stood in front of the cephalopod.  
Jamie stood on the highest sideline seat and got her camera working.

“The reporter for Meteor by the Minute may film now. If you’re new to Southwest Pondovadia Middle School, welcome all” the octopus began his introduction as he took off his galaxy print snapback and set it on the box. “My name is Benjamin Loveblow. I run Trial Day because, well, my dad’s a lawyer so I’m obviously the best suited to run Trial Day. Our first trial of the year is the case of Isabell Woodrow and Jennifer Hinden. May the lawyers rise and accompany their defendants”

Ponce stood up from one end of the sideline to accompany Bell, while Keira followed to Jennifer’s side.

“Keira Takeuchi, the accusation please” Benjamin sat back down and crossed his lower tentacles.

The white rhinoceros curtsied before pulling up a document on her phone.  
“Benjamin, Jennifer here says that Bell is, in her words, ‘a total speciesist jerk’” Keira read off the document.

Most of the students gasped in surprise.

"I knew it" a blonde mongoose whispered to herself before someone whacked her on the head.

“Uh excuse me, Benjamin, the Bell _I_ know is in no way a speciesist” Ponce butted in. “At least, I know she isn’t one. Just look at me. Benjamin, the definition please”

The octopus nodded and pulled up a Wiki Lite page on his computer. “Speciesism— discrimination and/or bias based on the species of an animal. Speciesism can be acted on by laws, by hiring processes, or social speciesism. Now, how was Bell being speciesist again?”

Keira rose from her seat and gave the jury a glimpse of Jennifer’s backstory.  
“Sir, Bell was part of a large group in Oakland Elementary that allegedly led the speciesism there. My client’s family was the only hoofed mammal family in Oakland for years”

Benjamin was reading through about the small town.  
“Hmmmm, Oakland, the county seat of Shenandoah County, West Virginia. 100% mammal population, 95% rodent, 5% other”

“Actually it’s now 100% rodents, my good sir” the donkey interjected. “Us Hindens moved here for work and the only other non-rodent resident hung himself last year”

Bell was surprised at this news. Things had really changed in Oakland since she left.  
“Mr. Macon killed himself?!”

“Well, yes” Jennifer pointed out before ranting. “But you and your little group of friends weren’t responsible for that, no, but their parents led it on. I heard it all with my own ears. But instead of leading a teacher to suicide, you and your friends made my years of elementary school the absolute worst.”

“I wasn’t the one who started it!” Bell gasped angrily. “It was Marinette and Cecilia!”

Jennifer slammed a hoof on the grass.  
“Those two bitches?! What the fuck is wrong with you, Bell?! They never liked you either!”

Keira and Ponce looked at each other in utter horror. They were whispering underneath it all.

“I didn’t think it’s turn into this”  
“Me either.”

“That’s— that’s not true” the beaver was fuming and shaking in anger. “Both of them told me I was one of the best friends a girl could have!”

“Well that’s not what I heard them say after you moved years ago” Jennifer shook her head. “They said awful, awful things about everyone there! But this isn't about them. What I want to know is why were you friends with them anyways!”

Bell was still quite stunned from the revelation.  
“I— I was only desperate to fit in there with everyone else at Oakland!” she stammered. “I didn’t mean, no, I didn’t even want to be part of the witch hunt!”

“You— you actually mean it, right?” Jennifer gasped. “You’re not bluffing?”

Bell was taking a deep breath in and out as Ponce patted her on her upper shoulders.

The rest of the sixth grade population was eerily silent as they watched the turmoil. The wind blew softly and a few leaves fluttered in the air. Jamie zoomed her camera in closer.

“No. No, I wasn’t then, and I’m not now” she looked down at the ground and tried to reason. “I was an awful kid back then. I felt lonely a lot back then. My parents did nothing but fight and I wanted to escape from that bullshit at school. I needed something, or someone, to take that anger out”

“They are pretty bad,” Jennifer pointed out.

“I know _that_ part” Bell continued on. “But I still feel awful for everything I did! The name calling, the backstabbing whispers, the incident with the superglue. Jennifer, I truly am sorry for how I mistreated you”

“You are?” the donkey asked.

Bell slammed a fist on the table. “Of course! You didn’t know about this, but my sister chewed me out after we moved here! I got into a lot of trouble, sure, but…..but…..”

She coughed hard.  
“But I knew if I didn’t tell anyone I thought I’d be safe! Please trust me! I’ve changed a lot since Oakland!”

The crowd was still stunned.

“You really have?” Jennifer was intrigued.  
“In that case” she whispered to Keira.

Keira stood up.  
“My client requests several testimonials”

The mint cephalopod looked at the crowd of sixth graders.  
“One at a time”

Multiple testimonies were made.

“Bell saved me from the lake”  
“She kept me safe on that ferris wheel when it broke”  
“Hey, yeah! Bell’s the one who brought me stuff every day when I was sick that whole month last year!”  
“And there was that time she stood by me in one Trial Day, the one over cheating on a math test”  
“Bell was the one who took me to the nurse’s after I got stung by that pollinator on last year's field trip”  
“Ella me protegió del peligro en el metro”

“Ponce, what was that last one?” Keira asked him.

The chimera nodded and whispered to the rhino. “She was the one who saved me from danger in the subway”

Benjamin rose his tentacles.  
“All in favor of ruling Bell as ‘not speciesist’, say I”

The entire crowd went “I”

“And all who oppose?”

A singular “I” came from the edge of the field. Maya walked from the edge and towards the crowd of middle schoolers. Nearly everyone groaned in annoyance.

“I still think Bell’s a speciesist” she smugly grinned. “She didn’t invite me OR Jennifer to her birthday party two weeks ago. Care to explain that?”

Bell facepalmed. “That’s because you’re an asshole, Maya!”

“And I literally just moved here” Jennifer pointed out.

“I don’t care about that!” Maya hissed.

Jamie stopped filming as her camera just died. “Maya, you said you didn’t care about Trial Day”

“Trial Day, Schmial Day the moth scoffed. “I just wanted to see the look on Bell’s face when her reputation is ruined and I have something interesting to write about!”

Benjamin rolled his eyes. “I’m not one to say this, but please, just fuck off Maya”

Nearly everyone started laughing afterwards.

The moth groaned then stomped off away from everybody else.

"You really mean it, right?" Jennifer crossed her arms.

Bell held her paw out. "Of course I do, Jennifer!"

The donkey grabbed onto Bell's paw and firmly shook it. 

————

September 6, 302X

11:12 AM

“So what all did Marinette and Cecilia say about me anyways?” Bell asked Jennifer as they were reviewing each others’ rough drafts in English class. Jennifer was writing about the importance of local farms while Bell's paper was about Mayor Canadendrum's campaign and failing marriage.

“The usual” the donkey was circling some misspelled words and adding several periods. “Making fun of your appearance, the fact your parents got divorced, but hey they pretty much hated everyone that wasn't each other”

Bell cringed hard from what she had heard. “Those— those assholes!”

“I know!” Jennifer chuckled. “Now you know how I felt all those years. Revenge sucks, doesn't it?”

"Yeah, I guess" Bell groaned. "Anyways, what the heck is a swilled dog?"

"It's just one of the farms back in Oakland. They opened up right after you moved here in Pondovadia" the donkey explained to her. "Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask. In your paper, you brought up chimeras. What _are_ they exactly?"

"Oh, well" Bell changed some quotation marks in Jennifer's draft. "It's just the term for an animal who has more than one species in their DNA"

"Interspecies is a thing here?" Jennifer raised an eyebrow. "I don't remember there being _any_ chimeras back in Oakland. My mom and dad said they're all bastards who ruin marriages"

"Well, here in Pondovadia they're more socially acceptable" the beaver explained. "And also only twenty percent of them are deemed illegitimate, that's what my sister says anyways"

———

Chapter 6 preview  
————  
“You can say that without getting copyrighted?” asked Bell as she sat down.

Klarisse snarked. “Yeah, pretty much. Copyright laws have bigger things to go after than some college kid”  
She tapped away on her phone to order some cafe goods for the two of them— an espresso and a livestock lox sandwich for herself, and a matcha latte with a crunchy peanut noodle salad for Bell.

“Hm. Never thought of it that way” Bell had to think for a minute.


	6. Upon You by the Moonlight Side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The big hockey match is coming up, but trouble lurks when one of the star goalies is knocked outta commission!

September 12, 302X

10:25 AM

Bell was walking down the busy streets of the northern district with Klarisse to a popular cafe known as Indigo Elk. She was reading the school hockey group chat on her phone.

“I thought y'all had class today” she looked confused.

The older beaver rolled her eyes as she carried her heavy college bag. “I do, you smartass, it’s online”

“Oh. Which one is it?” Bell asked as they walked through the door. The silver bell rang as they walked inside.

“Fanfiction analysis. I’m the teacher assistant for it” Klarisse sat down at a two-animal seat and opened up her laptop. “It’s about analyzing different aspects of fanfiction and its history and impact on literature. This week is about how humans started writing fanfiction in the nineteen seventies about a sci-fi series called Star Trek”

“You can say that without getting copyrighted?” asked Bell as she sat down on the green seat.

Klarisse smirked in amusement. “Yeah, pretty much. Copyright laws usually have bigger things to go after than some college kid in West Virginia”

She tapped away on her phone to order some cafe goods for the two of them— an espresso and a livestock lox sandwich for herself, and a matcha latte with a crunchy peanut noodle salad for Bell.

“Hm. Never thought of it that way” Bell had to think for a minute.

Klarisse turned her laptop on and set up her screen for sharing. She put her blue striped headphones on and made sure the screenshare was working right. If another student turned on their camera while in the middle of a jerking off session, she was going to lose it.

Fifteen minutes later…

An energetic black and white lemur in a red cafe uniform walked to the table the sisters were sitting at. Her thick black bob bounced with every step she took and her tail swung around in the air. She was carrying the food in one hand and drinks in the other.

“Hi guys! Glad you could be here today!” She greeted the two of them as she set the food down.

Klarisse was quiet as she listened in on the lecture and dropped links into the chat.

“She’s teaching right now, Amelie” Bell sipped at her latte and twirled her noodles with a fork.

Amelie sat down nearby and pulled up a chair for Bell.  
“Ohh okay! Hey after this I’m on break for an hour”

“Sweet” Bell whispered to her. She moved her Mon Uni bag and food over to the same table the waitress was at.

“Soooooo” Amelie crossed her legs. “How’s school been for you?”

“It’s a whirlwind. A lot of new kids this year, I was on trial a week or two ago, and Toshi got sick on Friday” Bell explained. “His little siblings caught something from the early flu season”

“Sounds about right. What about the hockey team try-outs? Did you make it?” the lemur asked.

Bell looked away. “Not exactly. I tried out for goalie but I ended up defense instead”

As the middle schooler rambled on about hockey, Amelie was longingly staring at Klarisse. She sighed in relaxation as she watched the older beaver explain the meaning of a Mary Sue into the microphone.

“So yeah. We have a big game next Saturday against Northeast. Amelie, are you even listening?!”

The lemur snapped out of her trance and shook her head.  
“Huh, what?” she looked over at Bell and chuckled. “Oh, my bad. So why’s the game on Saturday again?”

“Football plays on Friday” Bell explained. “They’re playing against Northwest though”

And then Bell’s phone started to buzz hard against the table. She flipped the phone over and looked at the screen— fuck, it was Chris. What happened now, she thought to herself.

“Hold on a minute”  
Bell grabbed her phone and excused herself to step outside and get the call. The audio was scratching in and out, grating on the beaver’s ears.

“What’s up?”  
“Bell, holy shit do we have a problem!”  
“Why? What’s the matter, Chris!?”  
“We can’t do the hockey match this week”  
“What the fuck do you mean we can’t?”  
“It’s pretty bad”  
"HOW?!"  
"Well...."

Meanwhile, at the Paisley Three Story Fountain…

Chris was trying to balance his phone while Ponce frantically climbed up a tree. The blue boar was kneeling over a beige mongoose and holding his head up.  
“Robby, bud, you’re gonna be fine”

“Ponce, why are you looking for sticks?!” the porcupine called to the chimera.

“We need to get a splint, Chris!!” Ponce hollered from the maple tree. He snapped off a few dead branches, held onto them with his mouth, then climbed down the tree and hopped to the ground.

Ponce pulled the sticks out of his mouth and placed them around the mongoose’s right shin.  
“I need something to keep them together!” he looked at the makeshift splint.

Chris unbuttoned his shirt, leaving him in a white tank top and maroon pants. He handed the shirt to Ponce and watched as the chimera tied it tightly to keep the splint from falling apart.

“Should I call an ambulance?” a scarlet macaw around their age called out to them. He was pulling a pastel blue phone out of his denim jacket.

“No, Jaco, an ambulance would be overkill for a broken leg” Chris yelled to him. “Get a taxi instead!”

The bird yelled “If you say so. Zoober or SkiHi?”

————

1:27 PM

Bell was walking down the sterile white hallway of Rubellite Memorial Hospital. Her slip-on sneakers squeaked against the tiled floor. She was still on the phone with Chris.

“And you said he just slipped?”  
“Yeah, he was trying to grab something from the fountain”  
“Well that fucking sucks. What room is he in again?”  
“Uhh…….the eighth one on floor nine?”

The beaver looked over at one of the hospital signs. Fuck, this is the seventh floor. She sprinted over to the elevator and pressed the ‘9’ button.

“Alright, I’m almost there,” Bell thought to herself. She heard the elevator ding as it reached the ninth floor.

After hopping out of the simple white elevator, Bell looked around for the eighth hospital room. Once she saw the colorful doorplate, she dashed over and knocked twice.

A tall beige nurse shark in soft blue scrubs opened the door.

“I’m here for Robby Neruda” Bell told the fish.

“Yea, the kid's right here” the nurse moved outside so Bell could walk into the hospital room.

The walls were an offwhite marble, while the floor was ceramic and pale blue. A few x-rays were pinned to the wall near the hospital bed. A beige mongoose with wavy blond hair in a teal green hospital gown was laying in the offwhite bed. His right leg was in a cast and raised high with a sling. His grey hat, white shirt, grey cowboy boots, and green overalls were sitting on a white chair nearby.

“Howdy Bell! Y’all wouldn’t believe what happened” Robby explained from his bed. The mongoose was still chipper despite everything that happened. He was typing away on a hospital-owned laptop.

The beaver sat down on another chair and crossed her legs  
“I know, Chris told me everything!”

“Pffft, no he didn’t!” the mongoose snorted in laughter as he held up a purple gemstone. “What really happened was I was tryin’ to dig up this ol quartz thingamajig to give to Leila, y’all knew she'd love the quartz thingamajig of course. But uhh I slipped on some of that ol’ algae junk and went down a floor or two. And bam, my damn leg got broke so I’m outta fuckin' hockey for six or eight weeks”

“All that over a hunk of rock?” Bell tilted her head in confusion.

“Yep! I thought it was worth it if y'all ask me” Robby nodded. He heard the door open and turned around to face whoever was coming through. His smile disappeared. It was a mongoose girl who looked similar to Robby. Her hair was wavy and tied in a high ponytail.  
She was wearing a short sleeved white blouse, short black pleated skirt, grey stockings, shiny white ankle boots, and a red ribbon on her neck.

She wrinkled her nose and sneered down.  
“Ugh, Robby, just what did you do this time, you idiot?”

“Now Beatrice, y’all understood what the hell happened” Robby tried to reason with his twin sister, watching as she glared from hearing him cuss. “I think my coach will—“

“I don’t care, Robby” Beatrice shook her head in disappointment. She had a paw to her forehead  
“I just don’t. I only came because your stupid friends told me to come here, and mom and dad wouldn't take me to the art gallery today. And what is _she_ doing here?”

“I came to say hi?” Bell was confused. “I’m on the hockey team with—“

“So?” Beatrice glared as she interrupted her. “Get out”

Bell tried to reason with her “You don’t understand, I-“

“I said get out!” Beatrice snarled. She stepped her foot loudly against the hospital floor.

“Alright, damn!” Bell thought to herself as she ran out to the hallway and closed the door. Geez. Hell forbid she try to check in on a teammate! The beaver stormed down the hospital stairs and towards the exit.

"Why are you still friends with that lowlife bastard?" Beatrice scoffed at her older brother.

Robby gritted his teeth. "Hey don't call her a bastard just because y'all don't like her!"

———-

September 14, 302X

3:30 PM

Eighteen sixth graders were gathered around in the pool section of the school gym. The swimming pool was frozen solid to allow the hockey team to practice.

“Did you see what Maya posted on the news?”  
“What, Chris?”  
“She was trash talking Thomas and Kevin again!”  
“Over what?”  
“Their latest prank. She called them stupid and childish, THEN went to call Sandyna their town bike because she helped them escape detention!”  
“What the fuck is her damage?”

The metal door swung wide open. Jaco was standing there in his hockey uniform and holding a hockey stick.

“Hey, where’s Coach Maladice?” he called out.

A red spotted newt raised his hand. “I think he’s at court this week”

“What happened, Dex?” Jaco asked him.

“I don’t know, something about a fourteen year old girl and going down in the office” Dex shrugged.

Jaco asked everyone else  
“Oh. Well, what are we gonna do about the match this Saturday? Our best goalie can’t play for six weeks!”

“We could get Bell to be the other goalie,” Chris said.

“Hold up, what?!” the beaver looked confused. “But don’t y'all remember tryouts?! I completely fucked it up!”

Chris chuckled a bit. “But Bell! You were only the second best after Robby and Dex!”

“Even if I am the goalie this week, we still only have nineteen players though,” Bell pointed out. “State regulations won’t let us play our match if we don’t have enough”

Jaco sat down and tried to think of a plan  
“Hmmm…….”

———

September 15

9:30 AM

“And the hockey team would like to make an announcement for today” Ray spoke to the microphone. “But before that, Thomas Hutchins, Kevin Beard, you’re needed in the office immediately”

“Alright, thanks Ray” Dex slithered up in his seat. “Hey guys, you probably heard by now that our star goalie, Robby Neruda, broke his leg Monday and can’t play for a few weeks. So we’re having tryouts today after school for another defense player, otherwise we can’t play Northeast this Saturday. Back to you, Ray”

The sunfish was stumped on what to say now  
“Hmm… Let’s go, Meteors!”

———

2:50 PM

Jamie knocked on the door. She was carrying a laptop and microphone in one arm.  
“Is this where hockey tryouts are?” she called out.

Bell opened the door. Her hair was in a low bun and she was wearing her hockey uniform. She had a slight lisp from the clunky green mouthguard in her mouth.  
“Yeth. Are y'all here for an interview? Jaco and Dex are holding tryouts nearby”

Bell watched as the cow walked into the gym room. They both took a seat nearby the entrance.

“Yeah. _Maya_ thinks football is the only sport that matters for news” Jamie rolled her eyes. “Jerk”

“Ugh, tell me about it” Bell snarked with a playful snort. “We’re down to two finalists so far, but they’re both really good”

“Oh? Who are they?” Jamie asked as she opened up her laptop.

The beaver was tapping her foot as she remembered who. “Geddy Sawyer and Elwood Entrenous. They're both sixth graders but I don’t have any classes with them, do you?”

“Yeah, I know who they are. Geddy’s a grey wolf and Elwood’s a barn owl. I have social studies with both of them” Jamie was typing away a rough draft for the hockey coverage. “I _think_ Elwood's dad is the one whose running for vice mayor soon, but you know, Maya probably made that up”

"Yeah, probably" Bell chuckled. "So why are y'all still friends with her again?"

Jamie looked away. "It's.....complicated"

———

September 16

9:32 AM

“And next week is the annual Monongalia County Fall Festival. All students are free with a valid Pondovadia School Districts ID” Ray sounded more chipper than usual. He was tapping his fins against the table. “Oh, and Bell Woodrow is here with another hockey announcement”

“Hey thanks Ray” Bell cleared her throat. “I’d like to announce that I’m taking over Robby’s position as goalie until his recovery. And I’d like to congratulate Geddy Sawyer for making it on the team. If y'all see him in the hallway, give him a pat on the back and tell him congrats on behalf! And if y'all could make it to our hockey match tomorrow at five thirty against Northeast, that’d be great. It’s at the Nightfever Hockey Rink in the northeast district. Our turnout completely sucked last time and— Hold up, Ray, ya'' said I went on too long? Alright, alright. I’m done anyways. Sorry bout that bro”

The ocean sunfish cleaned his white sunglasses. “Anyways, let’s go Meteors!”

———-

September 17

5:02 PM

The boys were walking down the street and looking on a virtual map.

“I can’t believe Bell is making us go here” Toshi frowned. He was drinking some pineapple juice and blowing his nose.  
“Couldn’t the hockey team use the school gym instead?”

“Nah, the swim team needed it to practice today” Ponce was still looking for the Nightfever Hockey Rink. “Plus the coach is still on trial for that affair.”

“I heard he’s getting life without parole,” Toshi said as he blew his nose again into a blue floral handkerchief. “Good riddance”

“Yeah, that guy was a creep” Ponce shuddered. "I've never met him but I trust Bell's judgement on this kinda stuff"

The duo looked up at the flashing neon blue sign. It read “SOUTHWEST METEORS VS NORTHEAST MOONSTONES”

Meanwhile, behind the hockey rink…

“Alright guys” Bell yelled as she was standing on top of a bench. She still had her mouthguard in her hand.

“Bell, why are you standing on the bench?” someone in the team interrupted her.

“It’s just something I see in nearly every sports movie, _Geddy_ ” Bell shook her head. “There’s the motivational speech thing, then we pretty much win the game. Can I please just give the damn speech now?”

“Sure, I guess” Geddy shrugged as his silvery fur ruffled up. This certainly wasn’t the weirdest thing he’s seen all week.

“Thanks” Bell took her mouthguard out to finally give her speech.  
“Guys, this has been a rather bizarre week, what with our best goalie out of commission and our coach going to jail for who knows how long. But we’ve done great at practice! And getting enough members on the team so we can legally play”

Everyone else watched as she continued her speech.

“And sure, Northeast may have advantages over us like more Canadians or a coach who isn’t into fourteen year old girls. As far as I know anyways”

A few of the guys chuckled at the circumstances.

“But we’re still gonna win, y'all!” Bell finally finished her speech. “Let’s go Meteors!”

The rest of the hockey team cheered.  
“Let’s goooooo!!!!”

Back at the stadium seating…

“Geez this is a bigger turnout than usual” Ponce pointed out as he saw more and more animals arrive and fill up the seats. Robby was following Jamie as he huddled his way on his crutches.

“Mind if I sit here?” Jamie called out to them as she carried a bag of popcorn in one hand and a camera in the other. “I’m supposed to be filming the game for Meteor by the Minute”

“Sure” Ponce scooted closer to Toshi as the longhorn sat down next to them.

Toshi was eyeing up the ice rink, unaware that Ponce was brushing his hand against his paw.  
“And there we go”

"This better be a good match yall" Robby crossed his fingers. "This damn cast still feels weird on me"

Most of the crowd roared in excitement as the Southwest Meteors slid into the stadium half, taking position on one side. Their green and white uniforms flashed against the cold ice floor. A minority of the crowd cheered later as the Northeast Moonstones took position on the other half of the rink. Their cobalt and black uniforms matched nicely against the light blue ice below their feet.

Both mascots, two costumed animals dressed as a moonstone and meteor, dashed into the middle of the rink and waved. After sliding off the rink, the two animals took the heads of their costumes off. The moonstone mascot was an energetic orange spider monkey, while the animal in the meteor costume was a cream bumblebee.

A towering cobalt ocean sunfish took his position near the rink and spoke to the camera in a microphone.

“If you’re joining us by our stream, welcome to the Pondovadia District Middle School Hockey League. I’m your host Gilligan McBailey, and today’s matchup is the Southwest Meteors versus the Northeast Moonstones. I don’t know about you but I think the Moonstones have this game in the bag, what with the Southwest coach going to jail soon for a few years. Shouldn’t have slept with that underage girl. Anyways. It’s three minutes until the first period so let’s see how the Meteors can handle this match”

“We’re gonna whoop their asses” a harlequin rabbit in a Moonstone uniform told his team.

The referee, a tall zebra in a black uniform, called out to the stadium and blew a whistle  
“Aaaaaaaand begin the match!”

First period began with the harsh buzz of an alarm.

The electronic board above the rink read 19:20 as Dex and Jaco readied their sticks. One of the opposing offenses shot the puck. Fortunately, for the Meteors, it was blocked thanks to a strong defense.

As the match went on by the minute, the ice began to crack ever so slightly.

The game went on as a hockey match does; the Moonstone goalie blocked some shots, a foul or two called out here and there.

The alarm went off soon enough.

Gilligan coughed slightly before going off  
“Aaaaaaand that's the first period! Currently at a tie at two to two. Some would say the Meteors can’t play their way out of a wet paper bag, but they’re doing great for— Hold up, what do you mean I can’t make that joke about the former coach on air? Jeez, I know they’re middle schoolers. My kid’s one too and he’s heard worse than a joke about a coach. Lighten up already, geez!”

He grinned to the camera  
“And now, a word from our sponsors-- Country Roads Popcorn, Shenandoah Soda Pop and Almost Heaven Pepperoni Rolls! The delightful Appalachian taste animals can't get enough of!”

Back in the locker room…

“So did anyone else hear the ice crack or?” Geddy asked as he wiped sweat off his forehead.

Dex shook his head  
“No, you’re just hearing things”

“Okay” Geddy put his helmet back on.

——-

Back at the hockey rink, one of the sponsors was throwing free t-shirts into the crowd. Jamie was waving to the rink while Toshi was sitting atop Ponce’s shoulders. He was waving his arms in the air for a chance at some fun merch. Robby tried to wave with his crutches.

And then a t-shirt pelted the poor ferret and knocked him back onto the bleachers.

“You alright, Toshi?” Ponce asked his friend.

Toshi got up and shook some dirt off his tunic.  
“If you consider falling over and landing on your back just for a cheaply produced shirt alright, then yes, I'm fine”  
He grabbed the t-shirt and stuffed it in his messenger bag.

The crowd went wild as the Meteors scored another point. It was now three to two, and the board read ‘14:32’ in bright orange.

A thin crackling noise rumbled in the air. Some animals gasped loudly as they turned to face the ice rink.

The ice was cracking and showed no signs of stopping. Most of the team skated away from the cracking ice, but two Meteors and three Moonstones got caught in the freezing water.

Chris was lucky to escape, however, he saw an axolotl member of the team go under and bob his head. He knew what he had to do at that moment.

“Bell! We need help!” the porcupine hollered to the sidelines.

The beaver called out  
“On it!”

She swung the door open and made her way to the breaking ice rink.

“Rosado! Over here!”  
Bell yelled as she skated to the axolotl. Once the ice cracked under her, she dove underwater, grabbed Rosado by his arms, and swam back to the surface.

“Geddy!” she hollered to her canid teammate. “Get some heat packs, I don’t think Rosado can handle ice!”

The grey wolf sprinted to the locker room, came back with some heat packs, and held them in his paws.

Bell came back to the edge of the rink and laid the axolotl on a bench. She saw Rosado panting heavily and shivering from the intensity. Fuck, this isn’t good, she thought to herself. 

“Somebody!! Help!!”

Another voice was begging. Bell turned around to face the distress— one of the defense players for Northeast was clinging for dear life to a chunk of ice. The young moose was frantic and kicking away from the icy water.

Bell had to think quickly. Sure this was a member of the opposing team, but behind that he’s just a kid too. Yeah, some of the Moonstones may be pissed off about it but fuck what they have to say, a life is at stake here!

She eyed the ice breaking more and made her move. Bell lept from one ice chunk after another, feeling the crackle under her skates. She landed on one last sheet of ice and held her hand out to the calf.

“Here!”

Bell nearly slid off the ice as she felt the moose stumble and wrap his hooves around her arm.

“Hold on to me” she told the defense player.

The moose was confused at her logic, but held onto her arm anyways.  
“Okay?”

Bell glared at the other side of the rink as she prepared to leap above the growing cold water. After taking in a deep breath, she jumped into the air.

The crowd was silent as she made the daring jump.

“Come on, Bell” Ponce whispered under his breath. Toshi was biting his lip as he watched the leap of faith.

And sure enough, Bell landed on her feet at the edge of the rink. The Moonstone player was still holding on, but stumbled his way off the ice.  
The audience cheered loudly. Ponce, Robby and Toshi yelled in excitement as Jamie zoomed in with her camera on the left side of the rink.

“Wow, uhhh thanks for saving Randall” one of the Moonstone goalies, a short grey field mouse, said as he shook Bell’s hand.

“Yeah, thank you” Randall shook some water off his fur.

After the forced evacuation…

The moon was shining brightly in the dark skies as Bell and her friends walked back to the subway station. The beaver was wrapped up in a heavy towel and wearing some of Ponce's spare clothes while Toshi carried her soaked uniform in his pastel pink messenger bag. Robby was stumbling his way next to them.

“I still can't believe that happened to y'all" the mongoose said as he tried to catch up. "Were the Moonstones pissed off about the match or?"

"Not really, they just thanked me for saving some of their teammates." Bell shrugged. "Hey where the hell is y'all's sister at?"

"She's off at some dumb ass art gallery I think" Robby rolled his eyes. "Sucking up to animals that are there for her parents, underage wine drinking but when I sniff a little moonshine at my cousin's I get YELLED at. I deadass wish I was an only child like most of y'all in the school"

"Art gallery? Ugh, let me guess, a fucking banana taped to a wall" Toshi rolled his eyes.

Ponce joined in "Or literal garbage, or champagne bottles and confetti thrown on the floor."

"How'd yall know exactly what the hell their exhibit was?" Robby was confused. 

"Aster told me" Bell explained to him. "He said that while the photography exhibit was beautiful, the 'historical 2010s' exhibit was what most animals REALLY came for. I just don't get it. Aster actually puts effort into his work but nooooo throwing trash on the floor is 'art' to those pretentious motherfuckers"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No preview this chapter, but there will be a MST3K tribute in chapter seven.


	7. Know the Game and Gonna Play It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio enter a science experiment for $150. Now with more MST3K references than ever before!

September 19, 302X

8:25 AM

It was a chilly fall morning in the city of Pondovadia. Maple leaves were fluttering in the wind, the smell of pine needles and baked goods filled the air, and animals were busy with their day. Some were setting up booths for the upcoming fall festival, while others were cooking up street food.

Bell and her friends were walking down the streets wearing warmer clothes than usual. Toshi was in a moss green peacoat with black pants and matching faux fur boots, Ponce had on an indigo windbreaker with ripped grey pants and tall boots, and Bell was bundled up in an oversized pink and white hoodie with white leggings and orange sneakers.

The dry leaves crunched as the trio went out of their way to step on them. They stopped nearby the Paisley Fountain to see what was going on there.  
The marble fountain was decorated with strings of leaves and acorns, a few butterfly pollinators were extracting sugar water from the highest basin, and it smelled freshly faintly of maple syrup.

“You gotta be fucking kidding me” Bell groaned as she saw the sign installed on the gate. It read ‘PAISLEY FOUNTAIN CLOSED FOR FALL FESTIVAL’ in bright blue light.

“Well this is just great” Toshi sighed. “Now what?”

“Hmm….” Ponce was thinking. “We could just walk around and look for something else to do”

Bell shrugged  
“Alright”

Toshi suggested another idea  
“Or we could go get breakfast first”

The trio turned around from the fountain and headed back to the subway station. They sat down together on the iron bench and waited for the next subway to pop up.

“Hm. Interesting” Bell was looking over at a sign on the virtual billboard.

Ponce asked “What is it, Bell?”

“Someone’s looking for volunteers for a movie experiment” Bell was standing on her tiptoes as she tried to read the digital flyer. “Hey look! A fifty dollar compensation! All we have to do is sign up with this guy’s email”

“Well don’t be surprised if a Nigerian prince asks for your card—” Toshi snarked.

“Done!” Bell had already sent an email out to the mysterious movie host.

Toshi took a good look at Bell then facepalmed.

“I think the fifty bucks will be worth it, Bell” Ponce smiled a bit. “Where are we meeting this guy?”

Bell was tapping away on her phone  
“He just wrote back. Dr. Klingas. Some place called Planet Express Theater. Now what kinda stupid name is that?”

Toshi snorted in amusement. “Probably a reference to some dumb old show”

“Is it close?” Ponce asked.

The beaver shook her head. “No, it’s out in the northeast area, right near the Mon Uni science department”

“Of course it’d be a Mon Uni student” the ferret pointed out. “They’re always asking others for the weirdest experiments”

“Yeah, they’re weird like that. So which station do we have to take?” Ponce curiously asked.

Bell brought up the map on her phone  
“Just the Mon Uni one”

———

9:05 AM

The Planet Express Theater. While most animals prefer the convenience of streaming entertainment on their personal devices, some cinema snobs prefer the experience of widescreen projection, while some Mon Uni students use the theater for experiments and indie film showings. The building was tall and made of a blend of brick and white marble. 

A white tiger in a green lab coat was sitting on an outside bench. She was reading through her signup list for the experiment. One of her paws was redoing her neat green bun while the other was on a mouse. Her phone rang and she picked it up.

“Hi this is Doctor Klingas. What do you mean you can’t make today’s appointment? Sure, Joel, we can schedule you, Mike, and Jonah for next Sunday. No, Mayor Canadendrum isn't going to be here, that'd be ridiculous”

She hung up the phone and went back to documenting various types of data; reaction times, species of test subjects, sense of humor.

The tigress put her phone down and saw Bell and her friends walk in.

“Hi, are you three here for the nine thirty appointment?” she asked them.

“Yeah?” Bell was confused. “You must be Doctor Klingas”

“She looks way different from what I imagined” Toshi whispered to Ponce.

“Yes, well, not quite doctor” Klingas shook her head. “The name’s Felicia by the way. And you kids are?”

“Isabell Woodrow” Bell held up her school ID. “I only registered myself though and my friends are in for the fifty dollars”

“Easy enough” Felicia turned her laptop around and handed it to Ponce. “You two need to register individually and I’ll have you placed in the other group test with your friend”

“Group test?” Ponce thought to himself as he tapped away any personal information needed for the experiment. Once he finished, he handed it over to Toshi and waited as his friend did the same.

“Well, yes, I need to do multiple tests for my experiment” Felicia walked to her pop-up lab. “I’m a Mon Uni student, part of the biology department, and a major part of my class this month is to hold a lab out of class time. Mine is to test how us animals react to certain movies to see if species is an impact on the sense of humor”

“I knew she was a Mon Uni student,” Toshi thought to himself.

“What kind of movies?” Ponce asked.

"Hopefully not the low quality kinds your dad has in his closet" Toshi snarked back.

Ponce knew which movies he was talking about. He remembered finding a box of them, then his father hid them away as soon as possible and refused to say another word about it.

Felicia pulled out a video projector and an old DVD. She dusted off the disk and made sure it didn’t have any scratches.

“The one you three get is Hold the Meat, it's a teen comedy that was made back in the human years. I must warn you, it swept the Razzie Awards” she explained as she popped the DVD into the projector’s slot. After popping it in, she handed them three child-sized jumpsuits in dark purple, light orange, and medium green.  
“Here, this is part of the experiment. It gets rather cold inside the theater”

Fifteen minutes later, the trio had changed into their jumpsuits.

“So here’s the drill. You kids go into the theater” Felicia explained the experiment. “And I’ll be outside monitoring your minds from this window. I must warn you, Hold the Meat is considered one of the worst movies ever made”

“Are you sure this is worth the fifty dollars?” Toshi whispered to Bell as they went into the empty theater.

“Yeah, I think it will be” Bell shrugged. “The movie name sounds like a porno though”

The trio made their way to the front of the theater and took their seats.

“Commence the movie!” Felicity announced loudly as she clicked ‘Play’ on the projector.

_The opening credits rolled and a ‘Underground Revolution Productions’ flashed on the screen in a dull sepia tone._

“Let me guess, they spent all the budget on the credits,” Toshi snarked.

_The intro credits rolled slowly onto the screen. Human actors and actresses with no recognizability whatsoever flashed onto the screen._

Ponce yawned sarcastically.  
“Wake me up when the credits are over”

The three of them chuckled to themselves.

Behind the theatre, the tigress was vigorously taking notes on her current subjects.  
“Hm, I see quite a lot of sarcasm in these youths” she whispered to herself.

Hold the Meat began to play.

_A shot of four tall tanned blonde cheerleaders were shoving around and kicking a generic short pale girl with a brown pixie cut, glasses, and a baggy grey sweater. They were yelling generic insults at the short pale girl.  
_ _"Uggo!"  
"Loser!"  
"Dumb whore"  
"Fat ass"  
  
“Uh hi I’m Kaylee. See that girl over there? Yeah? The one being pushed around by the snotty cheerleaders? Uh yeah that’s me. I’m not like the other girls here. I’m not some slutty cheerleader, a creepy goth girl, a stupid lesbian whose faking it all for male attention, or some totally lame plastic hipster. I’m just...Kaylee”_

“Wow they made a movie about the Allegory Academy kids?” Bell whispered to Ponce as she stifled a laugh.

Toshi rolled his eyes but snickered anyways.  
“Let me guess: her two best friends are just her clones but with different hair colors”

“Or fat and their entire personality is eating food” Ponce nudged Bell so he could sit closer to her. "Or a racist stereotype"

_“’m not like those other girls. I'm antisocial and I choose not to have any friends. Not that it makes a difference to the boys here, they only like plastic bimbos who put out for everyone. But I don’t need friends, when I’m just Kaylee and this is my story, Hold the Meat”_   
_The riff to an old human song known as Dirty Little Secret played as the rest of the credits came up._

“Huh, well that’s a new one. I guess she doesn’t have friends because either the plot demanded it or they couldn't find any actresses they could pay that weren't in adult movies” Toshi shrugged.

“I already know the whole movie is about her getting some popular guy to notice her for homecoming,” Bell pointed out.

“I call bullshit, Bell, she’s gonna get a makeover by force first THEN she gets gangbanged by the football team” Ponce smirked.

"You've been watching your dad's videos, Ponce!" Toshi barked back. "If anything, the movie's gonna be her learning to accept herself while everyone else is a shallow asshole for not being whiny introverts!"

_The scene was an average high school hallway. Kaylee was walking to her locker and carrying a book. At her locker, the blond cheerleaders were plastering homecoming prom posters everywhere._

_“Shhh, Brittany, Trisha, uggo here is trying to get to its locker” one of the cheerleaders hissed to her posse. “We gotta go away before it infects us with its ugliness”_

_The cheerleaders squealed then ran away from the lockers as Kaylee ripped off the tacky posters and opened her locker._

“Now where is my AK-47 and Foster the People as the background music? I hope I didn't leave them behind in chemistry with Mr. Fister!” Bell did a shoddy impression of this Kaylee character, bursting in laughter after her crack.

Toshi pulled an awful falsetto as he stifled a laugh “It’s next to the hottest boy in school, Deus Ex Machina, and his two best friends Racial Stereotype and Unfunny Nerd”

_The scene changed to a lunchroom. Most of the kids were minding their own business. Kaylee was, unsurprisingly, looking sad and sitting alone at a table with a generic looking wilted salad for lunch. A group of muscular football players in varsity jackets approached her._

_“Hey weed eater!” The tallest and most muscular football player, Chad Chadderson, slammed his fist on the table, his cock nearly ripping out of the football uniform. “Freaks like you don’t get to sit here with the normal kids, this is our table now”_

“I thought weed eating was seen as this cool edgy thing in these types of movies” Ponce shrugged.

Bell shook her head “No, that’s weed _smoking_. It’s why Aster’s cousin spends all day in the boiler room. Complete difference”

_Kaylee frowned and walked away from the table. The burly jocks were laughing loudly and fist bumping as they took up the seating there. The cheerleaders were gasping and harshly giggling as they saw Kaylee look defeated. Kaylee walked over to a table consisting of three completely average high school boys-- the skinny Asian nerd who speaks fractions, the fat best friend whose personality is food, and the everyman supposed loser yet was cool enough to have friends somehow, and played by a b-list celebrity._

_“Uh can I sit here? The jocks took my table” she asked them._

_“Uhhhhh, no you uhhhhh can’t, Kaylee” the fat best friend groaned while mocking her. He was stuffing his face with a bacon topped sugar sprinkled onion ring and french fry salad with extra deep fried cheese, extra ground beef, drowning in ranch and hot sauce, a side of deep fried bacon-wrapped Kraft American sticks smothered in ketchup, and a bottle of Diet Coke._   
_“Did you forget, stupid? We don’t like you either”_

“Yeah you can sit on my rolls after my fourth heart attack” Ponce rolled his eyes. "Dumbass"

_“But Eric, Kim Chi, Seth, I have nowhere else to sit!!” Kaylee whined in a shrill tone._

_“Kaylee, go away. Nobody likes you for a reason” Seth was dipping his fries in ketchup and glaring at her._

_Kim Chi spoke in the most offensive accent possible_   
_“Yeah you dumb girl unrike us so smart boys”_

“Was he even paid the two dollars to speak like a World War Two caricature?” Toshi shuddered in embarrassment. “I thought humans stopped speaking like this before their extinction”

_“Yeah and you don’t care about your health you dumb bitch” Eric laughed before he drank an entire bottle of ranch. "You should kill yourself!"_

_Kaylee dropped her lunch and ran off crying into the bathroom and locked herself into the stall. The entire school laughed as they watched her run off._

“So it’s fine if she judges everybody else in the school for having a social life, but calling her a dumb bitch once makes her cry?” Bell was confused. “Hmmm”

_Kaylee’s voiceover came on. Tragic piano music played softly._

_“I’m the biggest loser in this school, and everyone hates me because I’m...different. I came out to my former crush and ex-best friend Seth freshman year and he told everybody my darkest secret anyway. My parents want to change me, they were going to send me to therapy, everybody in this shitty school calls me a freak, and nobody gives me a chance to know me because I’m….a vegan. That means I don’t eat animal products. I know, soooooo weird.”_

“Did PETA make this movie?” Toshi snorted.

Bell said “If they did, I guarantee this Kaylee girl will cry over the mascot being an animal of some kind”

“I bet it’s something like a tiger or bulldog” Ponce snarked. “Or an eagle. This is an American movie after all”

_“But, I’m not like those other vegans at all. Did you know you don’t actually need B12 to be healthy? Hahaha, yeah. They all call me horrible names. Weed eater, bean breath, soy brain, sick in the head. All for being different. I didn’t choose to be vegan, like Eric didn’t choose to be 500 lbs and Stacy didn’t choose to be a cheerleader, and the weird ugly nerds didn't choose to be weird ugly nerds”_

“Yeah and I support animal rights while comparing the dairy industry to sexual assault victims. Woe is me!” Toshi did a better falsetto.

_The school speaker crackled in the air._

_“Heyyyyy it’s, like, Stacy Anderson, the head cheerleader and, like, Chad Chadderson’s girlfriend! There’s, like, totally gonna be, like, a party tonight at my house! No vegans allowed! And if you are one, you should like kill yourself already”_

_Kaylee cried again._

“Couldn’t she just choose not to be vegan?” Toshi pointed out.

“Yeah but the whole movie would be over by then, and they need to pay the actors five dollars each” Ponce snarked back.

_An obligatory timeskip took place while some ear piercing overprocessed song called “Bad Guy” played. Kaylee was seen at her usual activities- being pushed around by the other kids, crying while sitting alone in the bathroom during lunch, getting laughed at._

_“Ugh” Kaylee ripped off another homecoming poster from her locker. “Homecoming’s today and nobody here can shut the fuck up about it”_

“Big sports event and of course the moody emo but not really an emo is complaining about it? Shocking” deadpanned Bell.

“The sky is blue, grass is green, and Kaylee hates everybody” Ponce did a generic narrator voice. “Rated PG-13 except the obligatory football player and cheerleader sex scene, that's NC-17. Or R if he shaves his balls before filming”

_“I know,” Kaylee said to herself as she slammed the door shut. “I can get revenge on the homecoming game and prom! That’ll show them”_

“Show them even more reasons why you’re an unlikable prick? Real smart decision there” Toshi rolled his eyes in amusement.

_The introduction to Crawling played as Kaylee went into a montage preparing for homecoming. While the other kids were putting up posters and spreading school cheer, Kaylee was hiding behind the corners sobbing. After the other kids had left, Kaylee tore up every single banner and flyer decorating the walls. Dramatic classical music played as the shreds of paper and ribbon fell gracefully to the floor._

“Noooooo that’s half our budget right there!” Ponce cried out sarcastically.

_It was the next day. Kaylee was walking around the school with the same resting bitch face. But inside, she was glad to see the rest of her school rightfully annoyed from their hard work ripped to shreds._

_“That’ll show them for shunning me,” Kaylee said to herself._

“Oh yeah, ripping up paper and throwing it in the trash, such an anti-establishment move” Toshi scoffed. “Watch out we got a badass”

_It was the day of homecoming. Kaylee snuck into the school gym at five AM and saw all the homecoming decorations. It was horrible. The theme was “Dixieland Ranch”— decorations themed after farm animals like cows and pigs and chickens. She knew they did this assault on her eyes purposefully to spite her. And right in the middle, was an ice sculpture of the school mascot, the Sacran Angeles Wild Hog._

Bell laughed  
“Southern farm theme for a California school. Yeah I’d be a total dick about that too”

_Kaylee laughed to herself. Classical music played as she trashed the gym up— ripping up the decorations, smashing the ice sculpture piece by piece, popping each and every black and orange balloon, and dumping out all the food. The punch had to go in the drain due to the red dye being made with bugs, the chips were crushed due to being cooked with real lard instead of toxic seed oils, and the bottles of ranch and queso were popped and spread across the walls to read “ANIMAL LIVES MATTER”._

“But underpaid janitors don’t!” Toshi riffed.

“Soooooo edgy” Ponce stifled a giggle. “Lemme guess she’s gonna trash the football team too and give them all the clap”

_“This’ll show them!” Kaylee maniacally laughed as she left the school gym a disaster. She went into the boys locker room to continue her vandalism spree— popping the football, then leaving the school for good._

“It’s not like they have backup balls or anything” Bell did another Kaylee impression. “No, this one ball will make them lose homecoming for good because the quarterback stuffed his dick in it, hahahaha”

_Kaylee went about the rest of her school day— being bullied by every kid in school. Some of them yelled names at her while others pushed her around and laughed._   
_“Bean breath!”_   
_“Soy slurper”_   
_“Kill yourself already bitch”_   
_“Nut brains”_

“One of these isn’t like the others!” Toshi did his narrator's voice.

_Kaylee had had fucking enough. She stormed off to cry again in the bathroom, holding a notebook. Inside the notebook, she scribbled down names like Chad Chadderson, Stacy Anderson, Seth Smith, Eric Bunker, Kim Chi Chang, Miguel Nacho-taco, Tyrone Brown, Principal Woody. Countless other names were seen in the notebook._

“So she’s trying to be a lame vegan version of Light Yagami. Gotcha” Bell said.

_There was a scene cut to the homecoming prom. The game was a typical football movie victory— Wild Hogs 48, Cacti 3. The cheerleaders and football players gasped as they saw what a trainwreck the gym had become._

“Our locker rooms covered in Axe body spray and white stains (no homo) are fine, but this is awful bruh” Toshi put on a tough guy voice, cracking up with everyone else.

_“Like, look!!” the shrill cheerleader pointed at the ‘ANIMAL LIVES MATTER’ drawn in sauce on the wall. “It was that dumb cunt Kaylee!!”_

Ponce snarked “The only vegan in the school trashed the animal themed prom, and male cows are called bulls, Captain Obvious”

_“Let’s kill him!!” another football player called out._

“In other news, being a stuck up vegan and having less tits than 48DDD makes you a boy!” Toshi fake gasped.

_The entire student population looked around the building. Some looked on the roof while others popped through every classroom. While nobody was looking, the loud horn of a truck roared outside._

“Come on sport, we’re going to that baseball game you always wanted to go to! I know it’s been a couple years, what with me cheating on your mom with a 19 year old gold digger, and you’re into football now I think but I still love you, champ!” Bell tried doing a male voice.

_The students ran outside to see the commotion. An eighteen wheeler drove away and everyone looked at the road. Kaylee was lying there, dead. Her body was mangled yet her notebook was lying nearby in perfect condition. Her glasses were shattered, blood dripped from her mouth, and her limbs were twisted around like silly putty. A laugh track played. Loudly._

“I’m not dead, I’m resting!” Toshi put on a shrill British accent.

“Oh my fuck, they killed Kaylee” Bell deadpanned.

Ponce yelled “You bastards.”

_“Me readee dumb ass’s papuru notubooko” Kim Chi called out loudly._

“Huh, now I know which Asian countries he hasn’t offended yet” Bell listed off several countries. “Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos....I'm sure there's way more but I'm not very good at geography so”

_The movie was silent as everybody read through the angsty notebook. It listed off several petty reasons i.e. “called me a weed eater, made me eat lunch in the bathroom, told me to stop drinking soy milk, pushed me down the stairs, told everybody I was vegan”_

“What’s next? Going hunting? Won a blue ribbon at the county fair for his prized pig?” Ponce snarked. “Hey, I know! Wearing leather! Listening to musicians who eat animal products! How about a side of owning pets? I know! Claiming that eating cheese causes autism!”

_“Wow what a stupid bitch!” Seth exclaimed. Everybody began to laugh as they read through more of the perpetual teenage angst._

“Well at least she didn't go full Carrie on them” Bell gasped before laughing.

_The credits flashed and read “The end…..?” All the Small Things played as the rest of the credits flashed ever so joyfully._

“The day this movie got a sequel is the day pigs fly” Ponce snarked.

“Uh, Kyle from our geometry class can fly, Ponce” Toshi shook his head. “Don’t you remember, he’s half pig and half bat!”

"Oh, right!' Ponce laughed.

An alarm beeped loudly.

“EXPERIMENT COMPLETE. TEST SUBJECTS MUST MEET DOCTOR KLINGAS OUTSIDE THE THEATRE”

“Finally! I thought we’d be stuck here the rest of the day” Bell was relieved.

The trio walked outside of the theatre to meet with Felicia. She had three gift cards with fifty dollars on them.

“So, how was the movie?” she asked, knowing damn well what a trainwreck that movie was. “You can keep the jumpsuits by the way”

Bell took the card and put it in her bag. “Pretty cheesy”

“Yeah, it was grate-ing. It wasn't _gouda_ at all” Ponce snarked, causing everyone else to groan from the terrible pun.

“Ponce I swear” Toshi facepalmed.

"What, Toshi, my puns are legen-dairy" the chimera nudged his ferret friend.

Felicia handed each of them the $50 cards.  
“If you kids want, we got several more human movies to watch. The Meme Movie, Fifty Pigments in White, Excellent Eight, The Child CEO, and The CGI Movie”

Bell looked at Ponce and Toshi.  
“I think I have a better idea”

The three of them sprinted out of the theater and to the subway station. They hopped onto the first subway car that rolled up, not caring at all where it would go.

“So what are you guys spending your fifty dollars on?” Bell asked.

Toshi held his head up high in pride "Well I'm gonna buy more manga, obviously"


	8. Middle Between the Two Extremes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toshi watches over his little siblings for the day. What could go wrong? Everything. Everything goes wrong.

September 20, 302X

12:10 PM

The school cafeteria was always busy during lunchtime. Bell and her friends were playing table football. At one of the tables, the aesthetic club was enjoying their lunch and getting ready for an upcoming event.

“Hey Tabitha” Violet asked as she stirred some warm melted honey around in her hot drink. “So are we going to the fall festival or?”

Tabitha shook her head. “I’m waiting on Bell to get my invitation first”

“Awwwwwww, that's sooooo cute!” Sandyna gushed as her tail wagged hard. “Like hanging out with her friends? Ooh! Or a _date_?!”

“Shhhhh, Sandyna, Maya’s here!”

Keira leaned over and clasped Sandyna’s mouth shut with her hoof.

The girls turned around and glared as they saw Maya sneak around the cafeteria with her phone in hand.

“Hmm…...what’ll make for a good story?” she muttered to herself as she tapped away on her phone.

“Shouldn’t she be running a story on the fall festival?” Leila snarked to her friends. “I highly doubt lying about everyone counts as news anyways”

As everyone was busy with lunch, a snarled voice hollered through the air.

“The fuck is wrong with you, Maya?!?!”

The cafeteria went quiet as Joan stomped through the crowd and grabbed Maya by her dress collar.

“How could you tell the entire school about what happened behind the stadium, you fucker!!” the panther chimera snarled at her face. Droplets of spit flew everywhere in the air.

“Oh? Tell the school about what?” Maya smugly chuckled as she whispered to her. “The fact that you put out for eighth graders should be very interesting for the guys here~”

Joan’s cheeks went red before she shoved her against the wall. “That’s it, I’m gonna kick your ass!”

Maya laughed with a cold look in her eyes

“I know you won’t”

She brushed some dirt off her dress, snuck off, and walked to leave the lunchroom.

The rest of the middle schoolers went back to talking amongst themselves. Joan was fuming in anger as she went to sit with the rest of the punk kids-- two opossums, a poison dart frog, and a parrot.

“I seriously hope that asshole gets expelled soon. Somebody needs to teach her a LESSON” she harshly whispered to them.

——

1:03 PM

Room 2-F had a huge flyer installed on the door. It was supposed to read

“VISIT THE INTERNATIONAL CLUB FOOD BOOTH AT SHENANDOAH FALL FESTIVAL”, but instead, thanks to a certain sheep and goat duo, it read “THE ANAL HALL”.

Toshi was reading a recipe on maple leaf tempura. He turned to a fluffy white samoyed in a blue romper who was writing down plans for future fundraisers.

“Hey Ludmila, what food should we go with for our booth?” he asked her.

Ludmila turned around

“I don’t know, hors d'oeuvres I guess”

Toshi tried to explain before he got cut off

“Because I was looking at this maple—“

And his phone started to buzz.

“Yare yare daze” he whispered to himself. “Hey, I gotta take a call”

Toshi left the room and answered the call.

“Hey dad,” he greeted him. “Sure, I’ll pick them up. Yes, I _know_ about the fall festival, I was supposed to have a booth there with the multicultural group. Seeya later”

The ferret hung up and put his phone away in his pocket before he went back to the international club room.

“Hey guys, I can’t make it to the booth this week,” Toshi announced to everyone. “Buziba, can you take over my spot for me?”

“Yeah” the silver hyena said as he contacted the fall festival manager about setting up a booth.

“Great, thanks” Toshi nodded along. 

\------

2:07 PM

Toshi snuck out of his last class of the day--government with Mr. Ursus. He was crawling quietly through the air conditioning vents. His tail brushed against the metallic surface as he leaned down to hear another teacher ramble on about government checks and balances. Hm, sounds like something the seventh graders cover.

After finding the path to the basement, Toshi leaped out of the vents and landed on his feet. He sprinted outside the middle school and towards the subway station.

“Phew'' he sighed in relief as he hopped onto the car going to Garregheny Elementary. The car was eerily quiet inside as it rattled against the rails. Toshi pulled out his phone and began to text his friends.

\----

Ponce: toshi where tf are you

Bell: Yeah bro, I thought you had to go to the bathroom.

Toshi: no, not really my dad’s making me watch all my siblings at the fall festival

Ponce: oof. Hey do you need any help with the homework later

Toshi: sure

\----

The car finally stopped. The ferret leaped out from the empty car and dashed towards Garregheny Elementary. The grass and mud felt soft against his feet. Wow, to think he had went to school here just months ago.

Toshi snuck into the crowd at Garregheny with ease. Multiple animals were gathered around and whispering to themselves. Some of them had cameras in their hands while others just stood around excitedly. 

“What the hell’s going on?” Toshi asked himself as he joined the crowd.

A clean white sports car drove up to the driveway of the elementary school. The car parked and the crowd made way to line up nearby. The ferret tiptoed through the crowd as he watched the animal leaving his car.

It was a tall white beaver in a nice brown suit. His curly pink and orange ombre hair bounced in the wind as he walked over to the school doors, his dark loafers clicking against the pavement path. Several animals began to take flash photography. Cameras flashed back and forth as they nabbed pictures of the beaver in front. A black and white border collie in a blue uniform went over to shake his hand.

“Mayor Joseph Canadendrum, it’s an honor to have you visit our little school” the collie sounded chipper. “My name’s Principal Lilly, and what can I help you with today?”

The beaver mayor pulled up a document on his phone. It was a birth certificate dated several years ago.  
“I believe one of your students here happens to be one of my children”

“Oh?” Lilly gasped. “Well, which one of my darling students is it?”

“I believe his name is Ash Mapleton,” Joseph confirmed in the document. “If I recall he’s currently a first grader?”

“Oh, yes!” the collie beamed. “I’ll get him right out”

The crowd went silent and watched as the principal left the doorway. Five minutes later, she came out with a small white beaver-deer chimera with fluffy pink hair and freckles on his cheeks.

“Hey kiddo” Joseph greeted Ash. “So you might be wondering who I am, well I'm actually your dad, and I figured, hey, maybe we could go get ice cream”

“Sure!” Ash’s tail wagged. “I like ice cream”

The crowd of animals dispatched and moved as Joseph carried his child in one arm to the sports car, bucked him in the passenger seat, then left.

“What just happened?” Toshi asked one of the adults in the crowd.

A stout groundhog in a Mon Uni tank top looked at him. He told him

“Well the mayor’s trying to meet all his illegitimate kids before his tenure is over next year. Last I heard he has at least twelve kids” 

“Huh” Toshi shrugged, feeling underwhelmed from what was going on. All that crowding over paternity issues? Strangely enough, Toshi could see a little bit of Bell in Joseph’s appearance, namely the freckles and orange-pink hair. Oh, what is he thinking, that’s kinda speciesist to assume all beavers are related.

He walked over to a line for parents to pick up their kids. After thirty grueling minutes, he faced the secretary. She was a black swan with a red beak, red hair in a loose ponytail, and wearing a white sundress.

“Hi sweetie! Who are you here to pick up?” she greeted him and looked through a file of names.

Toshi cleared his throat.

“Da San Park, Kulap and Malee Boonchuy, and Trai Nguyen”

“And what’s your name, ma’am?” the secretary nodded along as she scrolled through the laptop for their names.

Toshi cringed from what she just said. Ma’am?! He was just at this school a few months ago! Maybe she just got hired this year, he thought to himself.

“Toshiyuki Ikeda. I’m their older _brother_ ” he explained to her. “Basil’s busy today with his job so it’s just me”

“Oh yes, Basil” she sounded a little remorseful. “Well, we’ll have your siblings out soon”

Five minutes later…

A little white otter in a striped shirt blue overalls, two mint green chinchillas in frilly white dresses, and a brown and white guinea pig in a grey hoodie and black basketball shorts all ran up to Toshi excitedly. They tackled him by the legs and he laughed playfully.

“Hey guys, so how was school?” he asked the pack.

Da San, the guinea pig, grinned. One of his front teeth looked loose. “It was cool! My friend Ash, his dad’s the mayor!”

“Yeah, I saw the mayor pop by here too” Toshi cracked open his sparkly pastel blue water bottle and drank from it. “What about the rest of you guys?”

Trai pulled out an ambiguous lump of clay in bright primary colors.

“It’s a fish!” he yelled.

“Wow, cool,” Toshi looked at the ball of clay that didn’t really look like a fish. “And you did this all by yourself?”

The otter nodded happily.

“Soooo, Toshi, did you finally ask Bell out?” Malee asked him. 

Toshi facepalmed and his nose wrinkled up in disgust. “No, Malee, why would I do that?!”

Kulap complained with a pout

“But Toshiiiiiii, everyone in our grade ships you two”

The ferret looked mortified. “They _what_?!”

Jeez how did these kids find out what shipping is?! At their age he thought just kissing was gross and now his sisters ship him with one of his best friends. I mean, it could be a lot worse...

“Yeah, shipping!” Malee bounced on the soles of her feet. “We think it’s cute!”

Kulap yelled “Super cute!”

“Okayyyy” Toshi looked away awkwardly. He began to lead his siblings over to the school train. “So who’s up for the fall festival?”

The elementary schoolers crowded around excitedly and yelled as loud as they could. Toshi got on the subway car with the rest of the kids. One of the small children, a little blue bird with a tiny backpack, waved to the group.

“Kulap! Your sister’s pretty!” he yelled to them.

Malee giggled. “Thank you, Indy”

Indy shook his head “Not that one! The tall one!”

Toshi got even more flustered and pouted. “I’m a **guy**!”

“Yeah, Indy!” Kulap yelled loudly. “That’s my big brother!”

The rest of the subway ride was rowdy, with half the kids bouncing on the seats while others played with their toys. Toshi pulled out his phone and began to write back to his friends once the subway finally stopped.

\-----

Toshi: kindergartners are so exhausting 

Bell: Sounds rough. Did they mistake you for a girl there?  
Toshi: no but one of kulap’s classmates did

Ponce: Are they shipping you with either of us yet there

Toshi: yep. its great. REAL great. i just love it

Bell: That's weird. When we were their age we never shipped anyone

Ponce: Except the two teachers

Toshi: wasnt one of them cheating on his wife tho

Bell: Yeah but they were gonna divorce anyways. 

\-----

“Are you talking to Bell?!?!” Trai whispered to him as he tried to read Toshi’s screen. 

Toshi stood upright and furiously shoved his phone into his messenger bag.

“Trai, how many times have I told you to stop reading my phone?” Toshi gently scolded his little brother.

“Sorryyyy” the otter laughed. 

The pack of children left the subway car and walked out to the High Street Zone. It looked absolutely stunning compared to an average day there. Countless vendors were set up all around the fountain. Some animals had all sorts of goods set up for sale-- candles, clothing, kombucha, music, even fandom merchandise. Others had food vendors set up-- A Taste of Asia, Little South America, Blessed in Africa, European Experience, Appalachian Adventure. 

Toshi took all his little siblings to one of the fanart booths. A friendly looking brindle Boston Terrier in a pink star-print hoodie and blue shorts was arranging her merchandise. The sign on her booth read “Cathy Stardust, Freelance Artist” with a few social media taglines underneath her banner.

“Hey guys!” she waved to the group.

“Hi!” Toshi waved to her. “What are you selling, miss?”

The boston terrier finished arranging all her merchandise. It arranged from colorful buttons to keychains with a glittery finish to custom printed shirts and stickers and even a few mature comics stashed away under an ‘18+’ tag. His little siblings were looking at some of the sparkly keychains and admiring all the colors beaming in the daylight.

“This is all merch I based off of 89 Days Around the World” the vendor explained to him. "You a big fan?"

Toshi’s eyes lit up. He knew this show all too well. He stayed up until 3 AM binge watching the first season when he was sick with a cold. “The one with the five dogs travelling the world to defeat a vampire wolf? Yeah, I’m a fan of it! The Japanese dub is better though”

“Oh, tell me about it, the jokes are way better” the terrier giggled. “Do you ship any of the characters?”

“Yeah” the ferret nodded. “I ship Kyutarou with Tenaki”

“Oh, well you’re in luck!” Cathy smiled as she pulled up a few keychains. “I have one set for Kyutarou and Tenaki, and another for Macherie and Sahir! They’re only ten dollars per set”

“Alright, thank you” Toshi pulled out his family card and bought both sets of keychains. He felt Kulap and Malee tugging at his tunic sleeve.

“Come on Toshi, we’re starving” Malee whined. 

Kulap pouted “Yeah, come on! I want spicy noodles! I want spicy noodles!”

Toshi laughed a bit before putting the keychains away safely. “These kids, I swear!”

The group walked over to the food section of the vendors. The kids were bouncing around while Toshi was finally writing back to his friends.

\----

Toshi: hey guys you wont believe what i found

Bell: Booze?

Toshi: no not booze!!! i got some 89 days merch

Ponce: Awesome! Any doujinshi there

Toshi: yeah but it was all 18+ so i couldnt buy it (yet)

Bell: Was it Kyutarou and Tenaki? 

Toshi: yeah i think so and i got some charms of them where are you guys at

Ponce: Chris and Aster invited me to hang out with them for the day

Bell: And the aesthetic club invited me! I think Tabitha invited me mostly to hit on me, what do you guys think?

Toshi: probably hey i gotta go these little rascals are hungry

\----

Toshi put his phone away and looked for a good food vendor in the A Taste of Asia section. Hmmm, gyoza sounds pretty good right now, but those drunken noodles smell great too, he thought to himself.

As he took his siblings over to a drink vendor first, Da San tripped on his feet and landed straight on his face with a yell. Trai, Kulap, and Malee looked confused at what was going on.

“Da San?!?!” the ferret turned around in worry. He kneeled down and helped the guinea pig off his feet. 

The guinea pig whimpered as he covered his mouth with his paws. There was blood on both his face and the pavement. 

“Oww….” he whined under his breath.

Toshi looked back at the puddle of blood. He pulled the offending white substance away-- his loose tooth. 

“Yare yare daze” Toshi muttered to himself as he looked at his little sisters. Trai had run off on his own. “Well don’t just stand there, help me out!”

Kulap snarked “Why?”

Toshi sighed in annoyance. “Because I’m the oldest one so you have to listen to me”

“Why?” Malee joined in the fun. 

“Are you trying to rile me up?” Toshi asked them. 

The chinchillas nodded happily. Trai finally came back with a little scrap of cloth in his hands.

“I got it!” He handed Toshi the blue cotton square.

Toshi smiled a bit. He put the loose tooth inside the fabric and wrapped it tightly. 

“Thanks, Trai. At least _someone_ knows how to help out around here”

\----

September 21

6:15 AM

“Pleaaaaaaaase, Dad?” Malee begged as she yanked on his sweater sleeve.

Basil shook his head as he tried to do his taxes 

“No Malee, we can’t go on a lake tour this week, all the tickets sold out, remember?”

Kulap pouted “Well _Toshi_ said we were going to!!”

“Toshi was being sar--” Basil tried to explain.

The doorbell rang. Basil ran to the door and opened it up. Klarisse was standing there with an ice pack on her head and a tired look in her eyes. She had her dark green nightgown on and her hair was in a tangled mess.

“Yo, Basil, you got any coconut water on hand?” she asked him.

“Yeah, I do” the skunk said as he grabbed a box from the shelf. “You pulled another all nighter, huh?”

Klarisse nodded. "Yeah. I had to grade so many papers I broke out the whiskey around two am. I swear some of these students can't write their way out a wet paper bag. So anyways, what's new at South Pondovadia High?"

"Not much" Basil explained. "One of the teachers this week was sick so I had to cover sex ed. The curriculum SAID something about abstinence only but I thought it was completely impractical, so I taught the freshmen about consent instead."

"I don't get it though" Klarisse shook her head. "It's a public school though. I'd get why those mythical private schools would wanna preach that bullshit but not a public school!"

———

3:15 PM

“Come on, Toshi!!!” Da San nudged him. “I wanna go to the lake!!”

“You heard what dad said,” Toshi sighed in exhaustion. “All the tickets are sold out so we can’t go”

“We could just play at the lake?” Trai tilted his furry little head in confusion. 

“Fine, we’ll go there” Toshi picked Trai up in his arms. “But you guys have to remember to stay off the boat, or I'll be the one in trouble”

The pack of kids walked over to the shuttle heading for Lake of the Unknown Knotts. They got inside, took their seats, and waited as the shuttle headed over to the titular lake. 

Once the shuttle parked, Toshi and his siblings followed the rest of the crowd outside. A few other young animals were at the lakeshore and having fun. Some were drawing pictures in the sand with twigs, while others were making little moats and building sandcastles with the dirty brown sand. A few bored parents were sitting on nearby benches and checking their phones. 

“Felicity!!” Da San yelled to one of the animals. A little blue and green porcupine in a big purple hoodie was sitting on the sand and drawing a lot of flowers with a comically large twig. She didn’t look up from her drawing and was whistling happily.

“Hey! Felicity!” the guinea pig yelled louder as the porcupine cringed and covered her ears. 

Toshi put a hand on Da San’s head. “I don’t think yelling at her is a good idea”

“But she always ignores me!” Da San pouted. “We have class together but she doesn’t look at us or talk to anyone but the teacher. My friend George, HE said she’s artistic”

“You mean autistic” Toshi explained to him. 

"I meant artistic" Da San shook his head. "The heck is autistic?"

Toshi looked away and cleared his throat. He KNEW he'd have to explain someday. Guess that's today.

"Well, it's sorta like this. You know how computers are made of a lot of different parts?"

The guinea pig nodded a little.

Toshi continued explaining his analogy

"Well imagine several of those parts are different slightly. One key could be pink while the rest are black, or the mouse is an older model from everything else. Maybe the battery was replaced two or three years ago, but it works better than most computers. But really, the computer still works the same, just different from others. Although you could use a laptop for anything, some models are just better for one specific subject like art or engineering. Does that make sense?"

Da San nodded  
"Yeah. Yeah, I get it!"

The boat whistle blew loudly. 

A few animals picked up their children and rushed to the dock for their lake tour at four. Some of the kids stayed there and kept playing in the sand and dirt.

Kulap picked up something buried in the sand. “Wow” she gasped as she looked at the hunk of metal. It was a miracle she didn’t get her hands sliced up.

  
The coppery chunk of scrap read “VENICE PINNEGADEN JUNIOR. NUMBER FOUR. BORN SOMETIME IN MARCH. SEVEN MONTHS AND TWELVE DAYS”

“Here, let me see it” Toshi plucked it from her paws. He shuddered in disgust as he read the text engraved inside. “I don’t think you should look at this for a while”

Kulap tugged his sleeve “Why?”

“It’s not worth it” Toshi shook his head. He chucked the piece of junk into the lake, the water rippling and making a loud splash.

He then heard something rise from the middle of the lake. Toshi turned around to see two orcas pop out of the surface and approach the boat. Great, this day just couldn’t get any better.

“You son of a bitch!” one of the orcas hollered at the boat as he failed to rock the boat. 

“Run” Toshi said to his little siblings. He sprinted away from the lake area, all of his siblings yelling loudly as they ran off to the middle of the woods.

The forest was thick and canopied the sky below it. There was no sign of civilization for miles, except for the lake and a shuttle. Several huge sprawling branches cracked and fell nearby with a thud that echoed the forest. The kids screamed as they dodged the chunk of wood. Unfortunately, they were trapped in a mess of trees.

“Toshi!!! Do something!” Trai yelled from his older brother’s arms. 

“I’m trying!!” Toshi hollered back. He analyzed the scraps before him-- he could set them on fire, but he didn’t have a lighter. Now if he was a mole or a gopher, he could just dig underground. Hmm..

He set Trai down and gracefully took his brown scarf off. The ferret tied the silk garment into a knot and threw the lasso around one of the sturdier branches. He tugged tightly to make sure the branch wouldn’t snap midway. He turned around to face all his siblings.

“Follow me!” he yelled to them. He took a step back, grabbed the end of his scarf, and elegantly leaped in the air. Toshi landed on his feet on the other side of the tree trap. He tossed the free end of the scarf over.

The youngsters looked at each other. Da San went first, stumbling slightly on the mod and dirt after he landed. Next went Kulap and Malee without a problem. Trai shook a little as he swung on the makeshift rope, but he eventually made it through fine.

Toshi yanked his scarf down. He pulled the twigs off and tied it back around his neck. He felt a rip down the thread.

“Oh well, I can get Tabitha to fix that up” he thought to himself.

\-----

September 23

3:10 PM

Toshi was walking down the streets towards the festival. Lucky for him, Basil said he’d have the rascally rodents under check for the day. 

“Toshi!!”

He heard a voice call out for him.

  
“Hm?”

Before he could turn around, he felt somebody tackle him from behind. Toshi felt himself lifted up in the air with ease. Oh, it was just Ponce! Both of them laughed from the surprise tackle. 

“Hey Toshi!” Bell waved and approached him from the side as she pulled a small grey square out of her pocket. She tossed it to the sidewalk and it unfolded into a white and orange skateboard. She got onto the skateboard and swerved her way past a rock.

“Y'all are finally free!”

“Yep!” Toshi grinned. “So how’d the rest of the fall festival go for you guys?”

“It was really fun!” Ponce beamed in confidence. “I got one of the best scores at axe throwing, I ate some really good empanadas, and Aster got these hilarious pics of Chris throwing me in the fountain!”

“Can I see them?” Toshi asked. “Oh! What about you Bell?”

Bell laughed a bit. “A lot more fun than I thought! Violet was kinda rude to me but everyone else was nice. Tabitha even bought the six of us matching stuff”

She pointed at the shiny green and blue ocean-print ribbon clipped to her hair. 

“She’s into you” Toshi nonchalantly pointed out. “Anyways, are you going on the field trip next week?”

“Of course I am!” Ponce jumped up with a bit of a blush. “I hope we can sit together on the bus”

"I'm down for it y'all" Bell grinned. 


	9. Another Morning Comes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody, it's the midfinale to part 1! That means we're getting a two parter for this chapter!
> 
> Thanks for all the hits and kudos, let's keep it up! Oh and I'm proud to announce there is a TV Tropes for my little series now, make sure to check it out. And if you're coming from TV Tropes, hi there!
> 
> Anyways, the kids go on a field trip outside the city of Pondovadia.

October 1, 302X

9:35 AM

The Appalachian air that Friday morning was cold yet comforting. Southwest Pondovadia Middle School was the same as usual. The sign in front was supposed to read ‘Get Up to The Third Floor for New Gym Room’ but was changed to ‘The Principal Can’t Get It Up’.

The grass was lightly kissed with morning dew and fog dusted the atmosphere. Pollinators of all shapes and sizes chirped through the air. A few dry leaves were twirling about in the wind. Dozens of animals were outside and talking amongst each other before being rushed into the buses. 

Miss Linon was standing outside one of the four blue megabuses and checking her list of students.

“Nathan, Henry, Martha did we get everybody on board?” the bulldog called out to the other two animals standing outside. “I have forty nine here!”

Henry Poulain, a black silk rooster, clucked loudly “Yeah, I did! Fifty kids on my bus!”

“Fifty here” Nathan Tourmaline, a grey alligator with long black hair, hollered.

Marta Milkiwein, a dung beetle, popped outside of the bus and yelled. “I got fifty here, too!”

“Great!” Ellie yelled to them. “We have a hundred and ninety nine, now we can head out”

The teachers hopped into the megabuses and took their seats up front.

The engines of the buses rattled and shook as they started up. The drivers made their way out of the school parking lot and took off. Grey smoke trailed from the exhaust pipes and into the cool morning air. A couple kids looked out the window as they saw the scene change from the tight city atmosphere to the vast aesthetic of a public highway. 

The West Virginia highway was filled with vehicles of all shapes and sizes. Some animals were flying in the sky while others watched the line of buses roll against the highway concrete. At least one trucker honked their horn for any kid who pumped their arm against the window. Each bus was filled to the brim with excitable kids. Inside the second bus...

“You know, I can’t believe they separated us from the guys” one of the girls loudly complained in the back. 

Bell looked over at Sandyna in confusion. “Geez, what’s Beatrice’s problem?”

“I think she was totally and probably hoping to get a boyfriend,” Sandyna shrugged. “Hey do you wanna see your fortune? I won this super cute paku paku from the carnival before school started!”

She pulled a pink and white plastic fortune teller out of her neon sunset satchel and held it in her paws. The hologram plastic sparkled in the daylight as she rotated it in her paws.

“Sure” Bell grinned. “I wanna know if I'll have fun on the field trip”

"Okay! Pick a number then!~" Sandyna giggled as she held up the toy.

——

In the first bus…

“So how’d you get detention again?” Ponce asked as he leaned over the seat, his stomach pressing against the brown vinyl leather. Benjamin was leaning over as well but only his front tentacles and head reached the seat. His blue and green galaxy snapback nearly fell over onto the floor. 

“Well” Kevin recalled the incident. “You know how Mr. Ursus failed me on the social studies test over using the wrong font?”

Ponce leaned in more, nearly falling into the other seat. The tiptoes of his sneakers were digging harder into the squeaky leather.

“Yeah?” 

“Well I sent him this email where I pretended to be a multilevel marketing representative” the goat was continuing his story. “And he totally found out it was me. And _then_ I stuck gum under his desk”

Thomas bleated “Yeah, and then that jerk Maya snitched on us!” 

“Why would she even do that?!” Geddy yelled from the back of the bus. Everyone turned around to look at him.

".....Oh, right, Meteor by the Minute."

———

On the third bus…

“Toshi!!! Catch!!” a voice yelled from the front of the bus.

“Nani?”

Toshi looked up from his phone and held his arms out. He caught a colorful beach ball with ease. He wasn’t sure whose idea this was, but it did make the bus ride more fun.

“Hey Tobías!!” he yelled to the scorpion before chucking the plastic ball at him. “Heads up!!”

Tobías caught the ball with ease, being extra gentle with his pincers so as to not pop it.

“Robby! ¡Aviso!” he tossed it in the air before headbutting it Robby’s way.

——

An hour later, the buses finally rolled into the parking lot for Daystar Country Livestock. Unlike Pondovadia, the farm’s atmosphere was warm and sunny. The country farm was brick red and had a quaint chimney poking out of the roof. Behind the farm was an industrial factory with a beautiful painted mural of the Appalachian mountains during a sunset. Huge fields of grass were surrounding the area, except for a pile of dirt calling itself a parking lot. A beige Jersey bull in a red flannel shirt and black coveralls walked out of the farm and towards the buses.

“Y’all must be the Southwest Pondovadia Middle sixth graders?” he hollered to them.

Nathan popped his head out the window and hollered 

“Yes, Mr. Guernsey, we are the ones from Southwest.”

“Okay, everyone!” Ellie announced as all the kids scurried out the bus. “Before we run around and get lost, to make this trip easier on us, we’re dividing everyone into groups of five, except for one group of four”

She started listing off names for the groups. While she listed off groups, some kids were playing on their phones while others were fixing their appearance.

“Leila Domino, Tabitha Gingentle, Keira Takeuchi, Sandyna Sanchez, aaaaand Isabell Woodrow”

Violet gasped angrily to herself as she saw Bell scoot over to _her_ friend group. She watched as Bell shook hands with her group for the day  
“You gotta be kidding me...”

The bulldog carelessly droned on with each group

“Jamie Valhallen, Maya Mesoras, Beatrice Neruda, Violet Harlacher….”

The butterfly’s fists were shaking and she squinted her eyes. First she gets seperated from her friends, then Bell might steal Tabitha from her, and now the rudest kids in school?!?! There had to be some sort of curse against her… But at least Jamie is nice, even if she has a poor judge of character.

Violet begrudgingly walked over to her assigned group. Jamie waved to her with a smile. 

Maya scoffed as she turned her face up

“I never thought I’d be with the likes of you”

“I could say the same myself” Violet muttered under her breath. She spoke up  
"Greaaaat"

Beatrice pouted and crossed her arms

“This is _not_ going to be a good field trip”

“Oh? Do tell, dear Beatrice” Maya faked interest as she began to write on her phone. Such tabloid level information she made up included “IS THERE A CANADENDRUM IN OUR SCHOOL?”, “SHOCKING! SIXTH GRADE GIRLS HOOKING UP WITH EIGHTH GRADE GUYS?!?!”, and “WHO JUST BROKE UP?? HORRIFYING TALES FROM THE SEVENTH GRADE”

“Well this farm is completely disgusting” the mongoose listed off her pettiest of reasons. “I don’t get any chances to find myself a boyfriend, and I didn’t even sign up for this stupid field trip yet my stupid brother wanted to go. I deleted the stupid email yet he told the teacher to resend it to my parents anyways. Ugh, I wanted to go somewhere _nice_ like a wine factory or an art museum, don’t you agree, Maya.”

If Violet could drink, she’d be downing shots of fireball whiskey until she’d pass out like a college kid after finals before winter break. Out of all the animals in her grade, why did she get the head of Meteor by the Minute, her dumbass lackey, _and_ the most stuck up jerk in her grade?

Meanwhile….

“Y’all, this field trip is gonna be awesome!” Robby exclaimed as he hobbled over to Toshi, Aster, Tobías, and Dex. His right leg was still bound in a cast and covered in signatures, but he had a pair of shiny crutches covered in colorful stickers to help him out. 

“I’ve never been to a farm before!”

“You haven’t?” the red newt curiously asked. 

The mongoose exclaimed 

“Hell no, y'all! I’ve always wanted to go to one but my sister is a prissy suck up. It’s always ‘mom, dad, I wanna go to the wine tasting too’ or ‘ugh this coffee isn't even over ten dollars, I’m giving this place zero stars’ or ‘but i wanna go to France for MY birthday! Maryland is so boring!’”

“Why is she trying so hard to be an adult? She’s in the same grade as us!” Toshi asked. 

Robby shook his head “Yeah, she is. I’m older by five minutes though so jokes on her!”

“I don’t like her,” Aster said bluntly as he adjusted the camera in his backpack so flash photography was turned off. 

“You know, Robby, she asked me out as a joke last week”

“She did what?!?!” Robby exclaimed in surprise, causing Aster to cringe and cover his ears. “Oh, right, the ol autism thing. Sorry if I yelled too loud, y'all!”

Over near the entrance of the farm…

Ponce was reading through a virtual guide with Thomas, Kevin, Benjamin, and Geddy. 

“So you’re telling me that Joan got in school suspension for two weeks?” he asked.

“Yeah, isn’t it weird?” Kevin explained. “What I heard is that she finally punched Maya for everything she said about her, then Maya pulled a wounded gazelle and claimed she got harassed. So now Maya gets to be here but Joan’s suspended.”

“I mean, I’d do the same,” Thomas nodded. “Probably not the suspension part but definitely the punching”

“I don’t think hitting a girl sounds right though” Geddy tilted his head and lowered his ears. "I'd get grounded if I tried to do that"

“Geddy, this isn’t the twenty-first century. If someone trash talks you, you kick their ass no matter what” Benjamin butted in.

Someone blew a whistle. All the sixth graders turned around to see Mr. Guernsey standing tall and waving to them. They gathered into a large crowd

“Okay kids!” the bovine hollered before introducing himself. “My name is Mr. Guernsey and I’ll be your first guide for Daystar Country Farms. Now before I begin, let’s find out a bit about you kids. So how many of you are omnivorous? If you’re a chimera, go with your most dominant species”

A good show of hands were raised.

“Good, good. Now how about the total carnivores?”

A few hands were raised.

“And how many of you are complete herbivores?”

Only six hands were raised, including Beatrice’s.

“Uh, miss, what species are you?” he asked her.

“Mongoose!” Beatrice called out in pride.

The bovine looked confused, “You are aware that your species is a carnivore one, correct?”

“Yes, but _I_ don't eat livestock products. I'm just more mature than everybody else here” scoffed Beatrice. 

Mr. Guernsey was baffled by her logic. 

“Alright then, moving on. Who knows why we cultivate livestock? Anyone? Yes, you with the buns?”

Leila gracefully lowered her hand. “To ethically feed the carnivore species, sir!”

Bell whispered to her “Wow Leila, you’re really smart”

And then Keira clamped her mouth shut.  
"Bell, _please_ " the rhino whispered to her.

“Excellent job” the bull called out. “After us animals gained human-level sentience, top scientists in the animal war realized that not every species can sustain exclusively on overpriced kale juice and imported quinoa from third world countries. Doctor Lusala Struthio of South Africa engineered non sentient blobs of life that we know today as livestock. There are three major categories of livestock to cover various nutritional demands— sea, land, and sky. Now, since I can’t lead over two hundred animals at once, I’m going to ask Ms. Milkiwein’s group to follow me to the sea livestock hatchery, and I’ll get some assistants to lead the rest of you”

The field trip group stood still. Some of the kids talked with one another.

“Can anyone translate that?” Tobías whispered to the group.

Toshi shrugged “Sorry, Tobías, I only speak Japanese and English. I _can_ read Cuban Spanish though, but only if Ponce is here”

“Chale” the scorpion thought to himself. Just, chale.

After some other employees had arrived, each group was led their separate ways. Milkiwein’s section followed Guernsey to the sea hatchery, Tourmaline’s to the free range fields, Linon’s to the sky livestock, and Poulain to the dairy section.

Linon’s guide, an energetic ostrich, rambled on

“Here you see how the sky livestock are raised”

Tabitha and her group leaned towards an iron fence to get a better look at the several sky livestocks in the field. Their necks were crooked and gangly and their wings were stocky and covered in either colorful or simple brown feathers. Instead of eyes, the tops of their heads were thoroughly coated with thick shaggy feathers. Their beaks were protruding and long, while their talons clawed into the dirt below them. A few of them were clucking loudly while others honked and quacked to themselves. Some livestocks were short and plump while others were slender and towered over the others. 

“Hey look everyone! That one’s really fluffy and I wanna pet it already!” Sandyna exclaimed. 

The other girls looked at the one Sandyna pointed at. It was covered head to toe in gold and green feathers and the only thing poking out of the down was its flat yellow beak.

“Yeah, it does look pettable,” Keira pointed out. “Hey, that one looks like Benedict!”

She pointed her hoof at a fluffy red livestock with a white pattern training down its face and stomach.

“Who?” Sandyna asked. She backed up before nearly falling over the fence and into the livestock field.

“Oh yeah, the chicken!” Bell said “I have art class with him. We don't really talk much though. Last I heard, he got into a fight with Carnegie over some weed.”

Leila looked over to face Bell. “Are you sure about that? I don’t think most eighth graders would fight a sixth grader”

“Yeah, I’m sure it was those two,” Bell reassured her before pointing at some livestocks. “Hey what are those two doing?!”

The five girls looked over where Bell pointed and watched as one of the sky livestocks climbed on top of another and thrusted in the air. They laughed loudly at the scene before being pushed out of the way by another group. Maya was busy taking notes, Violet was squeezing a cloud shaped stress ball in her hand, Jamie’s eyes were focused on the reproduction, and Beatrice looked disgusted. 

The beaver yelled at her 

“Hey, what the fuck?!”

Beatrice scoffed “Um, really guys? There’s nothing funny about _that_. If anything, that’s just gross” 

“It’s neither of those, Beatrice” Jamie deadpanned. “That’s just how livestocks reproduce”

“It is kinda funny though” Bell whispered to Jamie, who stifled a quick laugh.

“Whatever, you guys are immature perverts” Beatrice rolled her eyes before walking away from the field. The rest of her group walked away, with Violet looking more miserable by the minute. Tabitha’s group looked at each other.

Keira was confused by this hypocrisy “Who is she to talk about immaturity?”

\-----

At the sea livestock hatchery, the boys had their sleeves rolled up and their hands in the small stream of water. Multiple sea livestocks were swimming through the maze of water. Toshi snatched up one of the specimens-- a pink blob like creature with a bulbous nose and saggy skin. It wriggled in his paws as it chirped loudly.

Tobías flinched as some of the cold water splashed into his eyes. 

“Ándale, andale” he muttered to himself as he tried to catch any livestock without piercing through their scales. He finally grabbed a shiny blue livestock with multiple tails and tentacles.

The scorpion exclaimed happily 

“Orale!”

“Good catch, y’all!” Robby yelled to him as he nabbed a shiny green salmon-like creature with his paws. It had eyes trailing down its back yet none on its face. Its fins were long and translucent. 

Aster shivered from the cold water trailing down his paws. 

“How many livestocks are you guys at? I didn’t get any yet”

“I got five!” Dex hollered back. The newt was splashed in the face by another trail of aquatic creatures. It felt cool and refreshing on his skin. 

\----

Ponce and his group were crowding around the edge of a white fence, watching as the land livestocks chomped away on grass. Geddy was sitting on top of the edge, stretching his legs out.

“Y’know, guys, I’ve always wanted to take a ride on one of those things” Thomas bleated. His curly blond hair bounced in the wind as he leaned closer to the fence.

“Hey, me too!” Benjamin exclaimed as he pointed a tentacle at the brown livestock with the biggest horns. “So guys, if you had to ride a livestock with someone else, who would it be?”

“That’s easy” Geddy turned around to face him. “...Actually I don’t know”

“Well I’d have to pick Toshi,” Ponce said with a faint blush. “He’s my best friend, after all”

The octopus turned around “He is? Honestly, I thought you’d say Bell” 

“Same here” Kevin blurted out as he put some translucent cream on his horns. 

The boys looked on at one particular black and brown livestock. It was slowly chewing on a pile of black and green dung with undigested grass poking out, causing the boys to cringe in disgust, but they couldn’t stop watching either as it chewed the biohazard slowly. The livestock was minding its own business and chewing the pile several times in its flattened teeth.

“That’s an easy way to get sick,” Geddy pointed out.

\-----

“Do tell, Violet” Maya raised an eyebrow and folded two of her hands together. “Do you have _anything_ that could be a good story for the paper next week? I'm running low on material at this point”

Beatrice leaned in closer. She was sneering at everyone and vigorously washing her paws in the sink after touching the sky livestock. The girls’ bathroom smelled faintly of maple candles and brown sugar scrub.

“I don’t read _your_ paper,” Violet snarked and crossed her arms. “I have better things to read in my spare time”

Jamie tilted her head. “Reading? Oh! Any specific genre?”

Violet went with her gut instinct. Jamie wouldn’t backstab her, those long and tall horns are probably just decorative. But why would a cow have horns anyways? Unless… No, that’s something she shouldn’t just ask without thinking about it. 

“Well, I mostly read fanfiction. Sometimes I read it in class and the teachers never find out”

“Hey, me too!” the cow exclaimed. “Who’s your favorite fanfic writer? Mine's madame-takeuchi, I love the 89 Days AUs she writes”

Well this is a pleasant surprise, Violet thought to herself. She knew that Keira wrote fanfiction, but didn’t know other animals in the school read them too aside from her friend group.

“Oh for sure” Violet finally had a shred of fun on this hell of a field trip. “What’s your favorite type of fanfiction?”

“Definitely cheating, there’s just something thrilling about the dynamic of forbidden romance” Jamie’s eyes lit up. "In one of my favorite fics, Kyutarou finds out that his grandpa cheated on his wife with a college student!"

“Eww, Jamie, you really condone cheating?” Beatrice sneered. “Don’t you know how wrong it is?”

“Not if it’s fictional” Jamie laughed and nudged Beatrice's shoulder, causing the mongoose to groan and roll her eyes. 

\-----

“Anyone know what time it is?” the red newt asked before the group walked into the dairy section at the farm. “My phone died and I can’t charge it around here”

“Around eleven I think, Jaco” Aster blurted out as he watched in fascination as one of the employees, a short blue llama, gently attached a grey and black mechanical device to the livestock’s udders. It suctioned onto the udders and slowly extracted milk from the rubbery nipples. 

Robby scooted himself next to Aster and eagerly watched the milking process.

“Now I thought they were supposed to use their hands for this stuff”

“Yes Robby, because having employees milk livestock one by one is a good idea” Toshi snarked. 

Tobías stayed quiet as he watched the milking process with his group. So this is part of the Appalachian farming process, he thought to himself. He never went on any field trips to farms back in Arizona, that’s for sure. Usually it was just meteor craters or cacti filled fields.

\----

It was finally lunchtime, and nearly all the kids were gathered around the dining hall in the middle of the barm. Some kids were still in line while others were already seated and talking with their group. The teachers and tour guides had left to get their own lunch break, a way to get away from their students for once until around one. 

Beatrice complained as she sipped her large cup of plain coffee.

“Ugh, I can't believe they didn't bother to accommodate for animals like me” 

Maya was listening in while eating a bowl of shirataki noodles with edible flowers and thin strips of red livestock. She neatly twirled her fork before swallowing another mouthful of flavor. 

Jamie looked on as she munched on a large Caesar salad topped with freshly shredded parmesan cheese and light dressing. 

Violet looked unimpressed. She was digging her spoon into a cup of crispy creme brulee coated in honey. She had already finished her lunch-- honey mustard barbecue with a side of edible flowers. 

“You’re a carnivore though, aren’t you _supposed_ to eat livestock?”

“Wow, you really don’t understand anything at all, do you, Violet?” the mongoose turned her nose up. “Just because my species is carnivorous by default doesn’t mean I _have_ to eat dead livestock. You don’t get all stuck up at the herbivores for eating livestock, so why get at me for my choice to not eat livestock products?”

Violet cringed from the smugness she was hearing. She just wanted to tell her to fuck off already, but it was only noon. Maybe after this hell of a field trip was over she could do it.

"Spoken like a true hipster" Jamie playfully snarked.

Beatrice gave her the death glare  
"Don't you ever compare me to those irony loving douchebags ever again" she scoffed.

\-------

Ponce and his group were walking from the butcher department towards the hallway. Their stomachs growled loudly as they walked away from the smell of cuts of steak. 

_Something_ crashed through the metal fence nearby. The boys turned around to face the beast that just broke through. 

The enraged livestock snorted its nose and backed away with a snarl. Its eyes were a fury inducing shade of red and glaring at the children before it. Green and black foam dripped from its light brown snout and onto the metallic floor. It dragged its front left hoof against the floor with a screeching sound. 

Ponce and his group slowly backed away from the menacing fiend. Their hearts were racing as they felt the cold stare of the land livestock before them.

“Guys, this doesn’t look good” Ponce harshly whispered to them. His tail brushed up against the wall. 

“Well thanks for telling us that, smartass” Benjamin snarked at him. 

The beast before them stood on two hooves and roared loudly. It bore its flat white teeth as it kicked its hooves in the air. The livestock violently slammed its front hooves down and arched its head down. 

The kids looked at each other, then they ran for their lives. Benjamin and Ponce dashed in one direction, then Geddy, Kevin, and Thomas sprinted towards the other. The bovid livestock roared again and charged both ways in total confusion. All five boys dodged the rampant beast ahead of them.

“Guys!” Geddy yelled. The wolf pointed to a nearby door. “The lunchroom!”

“Oh yeah, we’ll be safe there” the chimera yelled to him.

Ponce pulled a small rock out of his left hoodie pocket and chucked it nearby. The livestock turned around and trudged before the pebble near its hooves. It turned its snout down to sniff at the grey rock before it. The small rock smelled like a blend of cotton, ocean scent cologne, and light laundry detergent. 

As the livestock continued to sniff the stone, Ponce and his group snuck into the lunchroom. Benjamin quietly closed the door. The cafeteria was busy, with most animals minding their own business. Jennifer got up from her seat and walked over to them.

“You guys okay?” she asked them. The mare held her right hoof out to them.

Benjamin latched his left tentacles around her hoof and got up.

“Yeah, thanks,” he answered.

A loud thud echoed outside the room, causing a few more kids to stop talking and turn around to face the noise. Some of the young animals whispered to each other.

“What happened out there?” 

“This isn’t good…”

“Are we gonna die?”

“There is no way in hell we’re gonna die”  
“We might though, have you seen the noise outside?”  
“It might be a shooter”  
“Yeah but what kind of messed up animal would go out of their way to shoot a bunch of kids?”

“I don’t know, someone who hates kids obviously”

Another thud, this one louder than the last, slammed again. Two kids screamed in terror. 

“Guys, we gotta stay back,” Ponce said to his group. “We’re dealing with _something_ ”

TO BE CONTINUED….?

  
  



	10. I'm Just Playing Games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two-part conclusion to Another Morning Comes!

Previously...

A loud roar echoed outside the cafeteria, bouncing against the walls like a rubber ball. 

“What the-- what in the heck is going on?” Jennifer asked the boys. She looked around at the cafeteria-- some of the kids huddled close together while others were spread apart in case it was a shooter. 

Ponce gulped and explained to Jennifer. “One of the livestock went crazy and snapped the fence, and now it’s trying to kill us”

“Went crazy?” she frantically asked him. “Like how?”

Benjamin shrugged. “Well, it's mouth is all foamy and it's acting completely aggressive to us for no reason”

Jennifer shuddered and her stomach felt queasy. She had dealt with this before back in Oakland-- her dad’s good friend Gouda had a whole outbreak in his sky livestock farm and he had have her help euthanize every single specimen by snapping their necks one by one. 

“What’s wrong?” Ponce asked her.

The donkey’s light green eyes widened. “Rabies…” she muttered under her breath.

“Come again?” the octopus asked.

Jennifer cleared her throat before yelling. “Rabies! Ponce! That livestock out there has rabies!”

Everybody turned around to face them. Some animals looked apathetic while others felt the horror shake their entire bodies. Nobody aside from Jennifer had dealt with rabies upclose before in their lives. 

“Ponce, you fucking idiot of a mutt!” someone screamed in the crowd, causing everyone else to gasp.

"What the fuck did you call me?!" Ponce hollered back. His eyes narrowed and his fists were shaking. He began to growl in fury. 

Beatrice stood up from her table and stormed over to the door. She stomped the heel of her boot harshly and hollered.

“Are you fucking deaf? You're trying to get me killed!!”

Jennifer walked away in intimidation. The last time she tried to confront Beatrice over her aggressive personality, the mongoose called her a backwards redneck hick and slammed the door in her face, leaving a bandage on her nose for a week.

Benjamin, Kevin, Geddy, and Thomas ran into the corner of the lunchroom. If there was one thing they all collectively feared, it was Beatrice Neruda. She could cry her way into getting everyone else in trouble thanks to her toxic parents...

“Me?!” Ponce snapped. He stood up and stared down the snotty mongoose, his hands raised slightly to look innocent. “Why are you taking it out on me, you asshole?!”

“Oh geez, I don’t know” Beatrice scoffed. “Maybe because you’re the one who brought the rabid livestock here, you stupid mutt?”

She pulled her paw back to her face and harshly slapped Ponce across the face. He flinched and sharply yelled as he clenched the left side of his face. His nose and cheeks were faintly tinted red and he was fuming in anger. The crowd was stunned from what she had done. Oh, she’s screwed. 

Bell and Toshi got up from their respective tables and sprinted towards their friend. Toshi pulled out a wet wipe and held the cooled sheet of cloth to Ponce’s cheek, while Bell grabbed Beatrice by her arm and glared at her.

“Really, Beatrice?! First off, you don't fucking call chimeras that word!” Bell hollered at her in fury. "Also, why would you slap my friend over something he can't control, you disgusting asshole!"

Beatrice pushed the beaver’s arm off her with a sneer. “Hey, stay out of this Bell! And besides, it was his fault anyways”

Bell yanked Beatrice by the collar of her shirt and gritted her teeth.

“Hey, don’t fucking blame him for what a livestock did. Stop making everything about yourself, asshole!”

Beatrice pushed Bell away from her and whined 

“Fine!” 

and walked back to her table  
“But if any of you guys die, don’t blame _me_ for it!”

A loud coughing came from the corner of the cafeteria.

“Bell! Help us!!” a voice yelled nearby.

The beaver’s ears perked up. She whispered quickly to Ponce and Toshi, then sprinted to the corner of the cafeteria. It was worse than she thought.

Tabitha was keeled over the table and wheezing violently. Her face was slightly red and a light rash trailed near her mouth and cheeks. Her eyes looked puffy. Leila and Keira crowded around the cat while Sandyna looked over at Bell.

“What’s going on?” Bell asked, having no idea on what she was looking at.

The shiba inu grabbed her face with worry in her eyes.

“She’s totally dying and you missed it! I’m scared, Bell! I don’t wanna kill my friend!”

Leila looked up with a fiery glare, causing the dog to shut up. She had a hand on Tabitha’s back, feeling that the fabric on her dress felt cold to the touch. 

“She’s not dying, Sandyna! She’s having an allergy attack!”

Bell curiously asked  
“Allergy attack? To what?”

Keira tried looking for the offending substance on the table. Most of the food on the table was cleared off, and nearly all the drinks were finished except for a few ice cubes. Great, nothing here that could give a clue to the offending substance.

“Dairy,” she explained. “This isn’t her worst attack yet”

Sandyna started rummaging through everyones’ school bags.

“Hey so did any of you guys bring an epipen?! I totally can’t find them anywhere!”

Bell facepalmed.

“I don’t have one!” she panicked. “And I don’t know where to find one!”

Leila hollered back

“Try the first aid kit nearby! Sandyna, follow her!”

“But I--” the dog tried to object.

“Please, just do it, Sandyna, she’s going to die if you don’t get the damn epipen!” the dolphin snarled.

Sandyna shuddered from the coldness in her friend’s voice, but knew Tabitha’s life was at stake. Bell grabbed Sandyna’s paw and dragged her across the lunchroom and towards the first aid kit. 

Another loud roar echoed through the outside of the cafeteria.

Bell’s heart raced as she finally saw the first aid kit attached to the wall. She stopped in her tracks, let go of her friend’s hand, and sprinted towards the little white box.

Sandyna followed her as fast as she could go without scuffing her vinyl boots. Bell fumbled with the latches before popping them open and nearly ripping the lid off the kit. Various medical supplies tumbled onto the floor.

Bell and Sandyna got on their knees and dug through the pile of supplies. Lucky for them, they found two epipens right in the middle between the cotton balls and the adhesive bandages.

“Come on!” 

Bell yelled as she put one of the epipens in her pocket, put away the unused equipment, locked up the box, and ran back to her table. Sandyna eagerly trailed behind, her tail vigorously bouncing in the air as she made it to the lunch table.

“Leila! Catch!”

Bell hollered as she tossed the pen Leila’s way. The dolphin’s reflexes snapped immediately and she caught the epipen without missing a beat. Bell, Keira, and Sandyna watched as she ripped off the blue cap, pushed the edge of Tabitha’s dress up to the edge of her shorts, tore a hole in her tights, and jammed the orange tip into her thigh. She pressed the epipen as tight as she could, her hand trembling slightly as she applied pressure.

After two minutes of the medicine rushing through her body, Tabitha coughed lightly and took a deep breath in and out. She felt her face clear up and the air felt refreshing instead of suffocating. It felt like walking outside to sunshine after hours of a heavy downpour.

“What? What happened?” she choked out.

Sandyna climbed on top of the table and faced her.  
“You’re okay!! Oh! Tabitha, you just won’t believe it! Bell and I, we totally got the epipen and saved your life!!”

“Really? You two did that?!” Tabitha gasped in surprise.

“Yep! We sure did!” Bell nodded. 

Tabitha got up from her seat, ran towards Bell, and tightly embraced her, causing her to blush.

“Thank you…” she whispered to her.

“Hey it’s no problem!” Bell patted her back. 

Sandyna took a better look at the table she was still sitting on.

“Oh! There it is!”

She pulled up a half-eaten peanut butter protein bar with the wrapper pulled down. “Look! I read all the ingredients even though they were way too long to sit through! It had whey powder in it!”

“Ohhh” 

The realization hit everyone else like a newspaper whacking a fly on the windscreen. 

Yet another loud roar was heard outside. Some of the kids screamed in terror.

The rabid livestock smashed its head and body through the wall and its terrifying roar echoed through the lunchroom. 

“Everyone!” Benjamin hollered as loud as he could. “Into the kitchen!!”

Bell picked Tabitha up princess style and ran towards the kitchen room. Leila, Sandyna, and Keira trailed behind the two of them. The five girls followed the rest of the crowd inside the small quarters that called themselves a kitchen. 

After all the students were inside and away from the lunchroom, Benjamin did a quick recount of everybody. Alright, good. All one hundred and ninety nine sixth graders were together in the whole room. Some kids were sitting on the kitchen shelves while others sat on the floor. Even more were hiding under the cafeteria tables. The octopus grabbed some wooden planks and used them to keep the doors tight so nobody could get in or out. He turned around to face everyone.

“Guys, if we make this out alive, you know we could all get rich from this” he explained. 

Chris raised his hand “I know I haven’t said much today, but how the hell is that going to work?”

“It’s easy, Chris” Benjamin suctioned his tentacles closer to everyone. “Since my dad’s a _lawyer_ , he could file a lawsuit against this farm and all our families could get a lot of money in settlements”

“That’s a stupid idea Benjamin, and you're a moron” Beatrice scoffed. 

Benjamin refused to believe what he was hearing

“Oh really? And what’s your _obviously so much better_ plan, little miss speciesist?”

Most of the students went "Oooooo" after the octopus's scathing roast.

“Hear me out” the mongoose explained. “We throw one of us out of here, make them scare the livestock off, call security, and then we all go home” 

A bunch of kids complained amongst each other.

“You're insane, Beatrice!” Benjamin yelled at her. “We aren’t killing one of us just because _you_ think it’s a good idea”

“Well it’s better than waiting in here for hours!” Beatrice defended herself. “And because he brought the livestock in, I think we should throw Ponce to the crowd”

“Hey!” Ponce harshly objected. "How about you go out there instead you speciesist prick?!"

“Beatrice, if you think it’s such a good idea, then maybe YOU should go out there and face it” Bell snarked back. “What do you have to lose anyways aside from your massive ego?”

“Hey uh Bell is it, NOBODY HERE ASKED FOR YOUR FUCKING OPINION!” Beatrice screamed at Bell. She hissed and tried to charge at Bell, but was forcibly restrained by Robby.

The older twin yelled 

“That’s enough!” 

He pinned her to the cold grey kitchen wall and furiously yelled.

“Beatrice, y'all gotta stop being a fuckin' bitch to everybody! Just because y'all didn't wanna go on this field trip doesn't mean y'all can ruin it for the rest of us!”

One of the other kids, a fluffy pink koala in a white baseball cap, yelled

“Yeah, fuck her up Robby!”

“Dude, they’re twins” a teal hamster snarked.

“I said fuck her up, not fuck her! Total difference, Rodney” the koala argued back.

The livestock roared even louder in the lunchroom. It was kicking around some of the lunch tables and stomping on the floor. 

“Hey maybe if one of us has cell service we could call nine one one!” Ponce brought up.

“Oh yeah” Bell said. “Let’s try that!”

All the kids grabbed their phones and checked the screen. Hm, nothing. The one place they’d expect at least some service, there was none at all, just connection to the free wifi. Oh, right. This is West Virginia, and half the state still doesn't have cell service.

And then came a yell inside.

Everyone looked over at where the noise came from.

Beatrice and Robby were brawling in the middle of the kitchen room. The older boy yanked his sister’s ponytail while she was trying to choke him. They were both shoving each other and growling.

“Stop blamin' me for the damn field trip!”  
“But I didn’t wanna go on this field trip! I wanted mom and dad to take me with them to the wine store instead!!”  
“Most twelve year olds don’t even drink wine in the first place!”  
“So? I’m not like most twelve year olds! I’m more mature!”  
"Yeah y'all are so mature you called one of the chimeras a mutt!"  
"But he was acting like one! He brought the fucking livestock in here!"

Most of the kids watched in excitement as the two mongooses scratched and clawed each other. 

“This is getting stupid” Toshi whispered to Ponce and Bell.

The two friends shrugged him off.  
“We know but it’s pretty exciting” Ponce reassured him.

Bell nodded “Yeah, it’s the lowest common denominator, like from math class! Oh wait, you get the worst grades out of the three of us in math”

Toshi snarked back “Only because percentages are hard, alright”

Robby and Beatrice stopped fighting each other, and the kids paused their excitement as they heard another door outside open. They could hear the heavy footsteps of worn out hiking boots stomping against the tiles. 

“Hello?! Kids?!” A deep masculine voice called out towards the cafeteria. “What the-- Oh, oh hell no!”

The livestock roared louder and the voice screamed in horror. The children were eerily silent as they heard the voice hack up his lungs and wail in agony.

“WHY JUST WHY! MY-- MY ORGANS! THEY'RE EVERYWHERE”

And the voice croaked on until dropping silent. The kids looked at each other as they heard a thud fall against the floor.

“We’re gonna need a lot of therapy,” Aster blurted out. 

“Tell me about it,” Chris yelled back.

The livestock roared louder than usual, its echo reaching all the way to the kitchen. It was still crashing and smashing through the empty dining room. 

The door to the hallway was smashed wide open.

“Clear!” A sharp masculine voice hollered.

A loud bang rippled through the air of the room. The livestock screeched in pain and stomped around the room.

“You idiot, that’s the right eye!” another voice, this one of a young woman, yelled back. “Try again!”

Another bang came and went, as did the scream of the livestock.

The same voice as before snapped

“No, no, no! That’s the left eye. One more missed shot and you’re fired!”

The third bang finally snapped. The livestock went quiet and fell without grace onto the cold hard floor. Its body just laid there a limp dejected mess of rabies and tranquilizer overdose. Blood and water seeped from its empty eye sockets and onto the tile. A large hole was gaping from the top of its forehead and between its horns. Pieces of bone and brain were scrambled across the floor in a gruesome display. Blood was scattered throughout the room, reaching the walls, the ceiling, and even the kitchen door. 

Benjamin slid the hunk of wood off the door and pushed it open. The door slowly creaked as he peeked through the crack between safety and potential danger. He couldn’t believe his eyes at what he was seeing. He also saw the mauled corpse of a grey house fly nearby the livestock. His stomach was torn open and at least half of his organs were ripped out and splattered across the floor. Blood caked his clothing.

After a quick glance, he flinched back and closed the door.

“Guys, it’s dead”, he told everyone. 

The kids were stunned, but trying to figure out what happened amongst themselves.

“Maybe it had a heart attack?”  
“Don’t be stupid! You heard the banging out there! It got killed instead”  
“Yeah but maybe it got spooked and had a heart attack! I’m not as dumb as you think I am”  
“Well it had to be shot”  
“Or the rabies killed it”  
“I don’t think rabies takes hours. It takes ten days”  
“Well who made YOU the medical expert of Pondovadia?”  
“I did bitch!”

There was a loud knock on the door. The animals that were near the door scooted back to allow whoever it was to come inside.

A brown grasshopper in a bright yellow hazmat suit was standing in front of the kids.

“Okay you kids may be wondering what the hell was going on out there” he calmly explained. “Well, that livestock was rabid and we had to put it down”

“Ha! I knew it!” Jennifer shouted from the crowd.

“I’d say that you guys could go ahead and leave, but we have to deep clean the dining room in order to get rid of any potential infection, as well as taking care of our deceased coworker's corpse and making sure his family gets paid in settlements” the insect finished his explanation. “Just stay put for a couple hours and we’ll get you kids out as soon as possible”

He closed the door and left towards the biohazard. The kids all looked at each other, confused on what to do now. Really, a couple hours? It shouldn’t take _that_ long to disinfect a cafeteria room. But this was a pretty big farm, and it was starting to get late...

Bell began to scale up the cabinet side. Everybody watched as she made her way up.

“Hey y’all!” she yelled to everybody once she made it to the top. “If we go up through the vents, we could get outta this farm faster!”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?!” the koala yelled to her.

“Well what’s the problem?” Bell hollered back. She looked down at the smooth chrome side of the cabinet. “Oh...right. Well if we all make some stairs it’ll be easier!”

“She’s right!” Benjamin yelled to everyone. He was holding two planks of wood. “If some of us help make stairs, then more of us could make it to the vents, and we could get the hell outta here!”

A few of the kids jumped out of the cabinets. Some animals went to look for wood while others dragged empty plastic crates closer to the cabinet Bell was kneeling on. Beatrice and Robby were still snarking back at each other and refused to help.

“Which side, Bell?” Ponce asked as he carried three crates in each arm. 

“To the left!” she yelled. “Anyone have an idea on how many steps we need?”

Leila yelled to her as she measured one of the crates with a tape measure.

“The cabinet’s eight feel tall, two feet wide, and and with all the materials we have, we’re gonna need about six steps!”

“Thank you!” Bell hollered back. “I don’t know how much weight these vents can handle, so we’ll have to go with only one group at a time”

“Yeah, with Keira in your group you’d only need a few animals anyways!” Beatrice snarked loudly, causing her peers to glare at her.

“What? It’s called a joke, you ever hear of one?”

“If I had fingers I’d be flipping her off so hard right now” Keira muttered under her breath, making Sandyna and Tabitha crack up to themselves.

After several minutes of moving material around, some of the kids finally crafted a long set of makeshift stairs. The planks of wood were arranged to keep the blocks of crates stable. The stairs were colorful and varied in material from plastic to metal to wood. 

“Heyyy, I’ll go first!” Sandyna exclaimed as she walked to the stairs. She got on all fours before scaling the tower of stairs. The soles of her high heeled boots squeaked as she went up each and every stair. Bell scooted back to the wall so Sandyna would have room on top of the cabinet. Once the shiba inu made it, Bell reached upwards to unscrew the louver entrance to the vent.

She hollered back to everyone

“Okay, y’all, the last animal to get in the vent has to shut the door, or we’re all gonna be screwed over”

Most of the kids nodded in agreement and some of them gave a thumbs up.

“Ooo this is gonna be fun!” Sandyna gushed. “I’ve never crawled through a vent like this before, not even if I wanted to escape detention!”

“I’m used to it, I’ve done it a lot before,” Bell nonchalantly said as she took a look inside the vent to see how much space it could take. Just five animals at a time wouldn’t weighed down the metal. 

Tabitha, Leila, and Keira made their way up the stairs to meet up with their friends. 

“Bye everyone, I’ll see you guys in therapy!” Sandyna yelled before she crawled into the vents first. Her friends followed suit and squeezed their way into the tunnels before them.

“Hey wait a minute, how will they let us know when they’re outside?” Aster pointed out. “We don’t have cell service, just wi-fi”

“It’s fine, we got the grade group chat!” Chris brought it up on his phone. “We’ll just keep tagging them until one of them replies”

Robby hollered back

“Or until y'all get kicked out over something stupid!” 

Inside the vents, the five girls looked underneath to see what room they were in.

“Anyone have an idea?” Tabitha asked as she glanced around the cramped grey space.

Leila poked her head down and pointed at a grated surface on the bottom.

“I do! We’re near the dairy plant”

The group looked down through the grate to see several animals processing dairy into cream and butter. The mechanical churners were hard at work as they pressed up and down into the heavy vats of milk.

Meanwhile, back at the kitchen…

Minthe was analyzing the stairs from her wheelchair. She watched as animal by animal scaled up the escape way.

“Hey, can someone help me out here? I think my group’s next!” she asked everyone who was staying put.

Jennifer turned around.  
“With what?”

The seal pointed at the obvious.

“Getting me through the vent?”

“Oh!” Jennifer felt completely stupid in that moment. “Like carrying you? Yeah, I can do that!”

She turned around so her back was facing the seal pup. Minthe reached her arms forward and wrapped them around the donkey’s neck. Her heavy tail pressed against the equine’s lower back. 

“What about the wheelchair?” Jennifer asked her.

“I got it”

Minthe turned around and hollered to a golden bumblebee with a black wavy pixie cut.  
“Daisy! Can you press the blue button on the left side?”

“Yea!” 

Daisy kneeled down and pressed the button on the center cap of the sea green wheel. She backed away as she watched the wheelchair fold itself into a compact square the size of a smartphone. It had a pretty blue shell in the middle that shone in the light. The bee lifted the device up and moved a switch up so it wouldn’t unfold automatically, then she placed it in Minthe’s backpack. 

“Thanks a lot!” the seal said as she looked forward.

Back inside the vents...

“Hm” Bell looked up from the grate. “Let’s keep going forward. I think the entrance is close”

“Oh, right!” Leila shook her head, her twin buns bouncing slightly.

The girls crawled forward and took a turn to the right. There was a lot of ruckus underneath their feet, but that was to be expected from a large farm. The sixth graders crawled straight through the maze of vents until they reached a huge slab of concrete.

Bell looked down and felt a thin grate below her hands and feet. She looked below at the room-- it looked like the entrance lobby for the farm. Perfect, there was even a couch nearby to land on!

She backed up and turned around to face her friends.

“We’re close y'all!”

Bell reached down and pushed the maroon grated door aside. She felt the cool air of freedom blow into her face before jumping down and landing on the couch. The soft billowy pillows were a welcome addition to the fuzzy blue couch. 

She sat up, pulled her phone out of her backpack and hopped on the sixth grade group chat.

“Hey yall! We made it out alive. Which one of you sent the well over fifty pings though? Because I can and will block your ass for that”

“noooooo bell dont block me”  
“...Oh, hi Toshi! Alright so here’s the drill for getting back to the entrance”

As the rest of her group made it down from the vents and onto the couch, Bell was sending a list of directions towards the lobby. 

“So how many groups of animals do we have to wait on?” Tabitha asked her. She was looking in her jewel tone diamond shaped compact mirror and checking for any blemishes from her earlier allergy attack. 

Bell checked the group chat again. “About thirty nine if the math’s right”

“Wow that's a lot” Keira nonchalantly pointed out. "So what should we do until then?"

Sandyna ran off to the vending machines and pulled her credit card out of her sunset dolphin-print wallet.

“Heyyy do you guys want anything? I’m getting some livestock jerky and iced tea, I'm still starved after lunch!”

"We're good Sandyna, but thank you!" Bell called out to her.

After about an hour and a half, the last group of kids finally made it out of the vents. After everyone caught up with each other, all the middle schoolers were piled back into the buses. The vehicles hummed against the highway as they made their way back to the city of Pondovadia. Most of the kids on the bus were still bouncing off the walls personality wise.

\----

Beatrice pouted and crossed her arms as she sat alone in the back of the bus.

“Worst...field trip...ever..” she sighed to herself while everyone else was busy talking to each other about how the day went and their future plans. 

Sandyna poked her head toward the back of the bus.

“Hey! Beatrice, you totally never apologized to any of us for what an asshole you've been all day!”

“Go fuck yourself, Sandyna” Beatrice snarled. “I don’t care”

She turned away and ignored the dog near her. She put some earbuds into her ears and put on some indie pop she illegally downloaded. 

Meanwhile…

“Well this was the most fun field trip ever, y’all!” Robby yelled as he was about to toss a ball across the bus. 

Chris caught the ball once it landed near his face.

“It sure was! Hey Rosado, heads up!”

He tossed the colorful ball back to the front of the bus. 

Once the kids made it back to Southwest Middle, nearly all of the animals headed their way back home. The sun was setting as Bell, Ponce, and Toshi headed back to the school subway.

“Hey look, Bell!” Ponce pulled a news article up on his phone. “Monongahela University is offering a raffle for homecoming soon”

“Lemme see that” Bell snatched his phone and read through the contest rules. “Huh. The winner gets three tickets for the game against Lone Star University. Hey, our main rival!”

“Don’t you remember the _last_ time we signed up for a raffle, Bell?” Toshi snarked.

Bell shook her head “Yeah, yeah, we found a cult under the lake. But this is different! It's a college raffle”

“I don’t know” Ponce held two fingers under his chin. “Ever see how wild college kids get about football?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, guys” Bell laughed. “We’re not in Texas!”

"Yeah but" Toshi pointed out. "Mon Uni's been the highest rated party school for five years straight"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, thanks for making it to chapter 10!
> 
> Before anyone asks, yes, Lone Star University is the counterpart of University of Texas. It might not be too obvious but Monongahela University is supposed to be West Virginia University


	11. There is a Fortune Waiting to be Had

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio meets an old friend from elementary school.

October 6, 302X

10:30 AM

Bell was sitting at her school desk and typing away at her laptop. She was finishing up a unit exercise on multiplying percentages and looking for bootleg Blyned Jagwar vinyl at the same time. Hey look, one from their early days in the California punk scene! This should be a good one. 

“Seventy dollars though?! Klarisse would kill me and throw me in the sewage if I bought that!” Bell thought to herself.

“Hey Bell?” the rooster teacher asked her as he was cleaning his desk. Bell took her right orange earbud out and placed it next to her laptop.

“Can you do me a favor and send today’s assignment and next week’s unit to Joan? I’ll give you five extra points on your final grade”

Oh yeah, Joan was still suspended. All because Maya made herself the victim again. Somebody should beat her ass for once, preferably in front of the whole school.

“Sure, Mr. Poulain”

She nodded and pulled up Joan’s school email-- jojorossi, was it? Yeah, that sounds about right. Bell pulled up the links for the unit and forwarded them to her. Bell heard her laptop made a small ding to confirm everything was sent. She put her right earbud back inside.

“Thanks,” Mr. Poulain said as he finished up with his desk. He moved a family photo nearby his laptop and readjusted it so the simple black frame wasn’t as crooked.

——

2:45 PM

Bell and her friends were walking down the streets of the Coglen District. They were bundled up for the fall weather in thick sweaters and loose pants. The wind was cold yet weak. Several animals were talking to each other across the street.

Toshi was drinking a cup of black and blue boba tea while Ponce was munching on some plantain chips.

“And the son of a bitch said he wanted feet pics for it!” Bell laughed. “Anyways, I just sent him the middle finger and the dumbass blocked me”

Toshi stopped in his tracks. “Did you guys hear that?”

“Hear what?” Ponce asked. 

There was a loud rustling in the alleyway near the new Venezuelan restaurant that opened last week.

“Oh, that! Let’s go check it out” Bell pointed at the alley. 

Ponce and Toshi looked at each other then shrugged. What the hell, it’s not like anything else is going on today. 

The three kids snuck their way into the alley way. It was cold, damp, and looked abandoned. There were a couple black trash bags filled with something shoved into a corner. A little bit of graffiti was spray painted on the walls, but it was just cheap scribbles in white spray paint and not a work of art at all. Surprisingly for an alleyway, there was no scent at all. 

“Stop!” 

A dangerous contralto yelled before them.

The trio turned around. They saw an ominous black figure stand before them. They were standing on the edge between alleyway and penthouse roofs.

The kids watched as the animal before them did a flip and roughly landed on their feet. Feathers spread from their arms as they brushed dirt off themself.

The animal walked closer to them. The shadows came off their body and the mysterious animal was finally revealed to them.

It was a short and slender white bird around their age. Her light brown hair was short and styled upwards into a choppy fauxhawk. She was wearing a sleeveless dark green spandex suit with shiny grey belts around her thighs and a mask covering her eyes. 

“Oh, hi guys!” 

Her voice was light and airy compared to the booming contralto just minutes before.

The trio looked at each other in confusion. Did she know them somehow? She didn’t look like anybody from their grade. Maybe she went to a different school, that would make the most sense considering the size of Pondovadia. 

“Hey?” Bell cautiously waved. “Do you know us?”

The bird shook her head before laughing. “I could say the same myself! Don’t you guys remember me?! It’s Becky!”

The trio just stared in silence.

“Becky Henwalsh? We went to Garregheny Elementary together?” she asked them.

Toshi just blinked and tilted his head.

Becky shrugged. “I was gone for two weeks in the fifth grade because of my kidney infection?”

Bell looked at Ponce in confusion.

The bird facepalmed. “How do you three not remember me?!”

Bell jolted up in surprise. Her memory hit her like a smashed egg against a brick wall.  
“Oh! Were you the bald eagle?”

“Well, only _half_ eagle” Becky sighed in relief. “But my dad is, yes! My mom’s a seagull, by the way”

“Ohh okay” Toshi was looking up and down at her as he crossed his arms. “Hey didn’t you used to have longer hair?”

Becky sat down on a trash can. 

“Yeah, but I cut it right after I graduated elementary”

“Well why aren’t you in Southwest like us?” Ponce asked the big question. “We would’ve known you if you went to school with us”

The eagle-seagull chimera stretched a bit, feeling her back crack slightly and her arm feathers puff up.

“Oh yeah, about that? I’m homeschooled now, it’s a family thing”

Somebody yelped in the distance.

Becky’s eyes widened.

“Oh, hey, I gotta go take care of that. Can we meet here tomorrow at the same time? Bring some sports wear too-- BYE!”

She jumped up from the trash can and flew to the rooftop with ease before disappearing into the sky.

Ponce looked at Toshi.

“What the hell just happened?”

“No idea” Toshi shrugged. “Hey let’s go to Saber Gran later, I heard it's fifteen percent off for students this week.”

\-----

  
  


October 7

2:47 PM

The trio jogged down the cold brisk street in workout gear. Their backpacks were bouncing with each step they took.

Toshi was wearing a loose light green pullover hoodie with white horizontal stripes, plain black form fitting sweats, and his usual green and white sneakers. 

Ponce had on a black short-sleeve hoodie over an indigo long sleeve shirt, loose grey joggers with a white stripe running up his left side, and his tall purple sneakers. 

And Bell had on a gold and white Mon Uni hoodie with the hood up, beige yoga pants, and her orange slip on sneakers. 

“Wait which alleyway are we going to?” Bell asked her friends. 

“The one near Sabre Gran” Ponce pointed ahead.

The kids dashed towards the same alleyway as yesterday. It looked exactly the same as yesterday-- even the trash cans weren’t emptied out! The trio looked up at the rustling they heard up on the nearby rooftop. That had to be Becky. 

The animal jumped off the rooftop and landed on her feet. Yep, it was Becky alright. She was in the same outfit she had on yesterday.

“So what’s with the costume?” Toshi asked.

Becky stretched her arms before explaining her backstory

“Glad somebody asked! It’s my alter ego”

“Anyways, with the homeschool thing, my dad pulled me out of traditional school so I could join the Henwalsh legacy, and my mom didn't say a word whatsoever” the bird began her tale. 

Her new allies looked at each other in confusion.

“Henwalsh...legacy?” Ponce was curious now

Becky flipped before landing on a filled trash can. Her boots stomped hard against the silver lid before she cleared her throat.

“Yes, you heard me. Ever since my ancestors first rose after the GREAT human animal war” she boasted as she pointed a finger to the sky. “Us Henwalshes have kept a fine legacy of vigilantism alive in the GREAT WEST VIRGINIA!”

“So do we still call you Becky or?” Bell tilted her head. This loud grandiose bird before wasn’t the timid and quiet girl she knew just months before.

“Goodness, no!” the bird heartily chuckled as she flexed her right arm. “Around here, I’m now the ever so grand VERDANTE! I came up with the moniker myself with some help!”

Toshi interrupted her boasting

“So why Verdante?”

Becky snapped quickly.

“Oh! Was that too much? Anyways, us first born Henwalshes always choose a color moniker. My dad was Ki Akuma and his dad was Arancio, then HIS dad was Krasnyy. You could see why Verdante fits, no?”

The trio nodded.

“Perfect!” Becky dynamically leaped off of the garbage can. “Hey I think you guys should have some aliases too, in the case those pesky reporters like the Mesora family see you tagging along with me! Quick, think of one! Could be ANYTHING!”

Bell blurted out “Throwback!”

“PERFECT!” Becky yelled back. “Ponce, Toshi, what do you guys have in mind?”

“Furisode,” Toshi calmly said without a care.

“Home Run” Ponce shrugged. 

The bird grinned anyways. “Love it! Now come on guys! Lemme show you how the EVER GRANDE VERDANTE does things on this side of the city! Come on! There's a FORTUNE of experience out there! It's waiting to be had!”

She started to run towards the street. Bell, Ponce, and Toshi carelessly jogged up to her speed.

“I’d say join and fly me” Becky kept up her act as she hovered in the air. “But I then remembered, you’re all mammals to some degree!”

The quad dashed towards another area in the Coglen District-- the Aqualung Park. It was a long trailing park with plenty of activity and life teeming everywhere, from the ancient maple tree with a blue horned beetle climbing on top, to a few fish racing laps in the nearby heated pool. Some animal children were playing on the playground while others were gathering together under a wooden brown pavilion for a birthday party. 

Becky triumphantly did a flip onto the roof of the pavilion. She waited as the trio climbed up the nearby maple tree’s highest branches, then jumped over to meet her. 

The roof was slightly worn down from months of Becky climbing onto it. A blue rug was draped over the middle of the roof. There were a few forest green plastic boxes scattered on top-- some were filled with snacks and drinks while others had small dumbbells and a rope and even a power bank!

“So why are we here again?” Toshi asked. 

“Well” Becky stretched a bit and explained. She pulled out a bag of jerky and munched on the contents. “This is my not-so-secret base where I keep a bird’s eye view out for danger!”

The trio looked unamused from the bad pun she unintentionally made.

“Really, just a park?” Ponce was confused.

“Yeah I thought you’d have a bigger base” Bell shrugged. “Like under Mayor Canadendrum’s office, or near one of the subway stations!”

The bird just chuckled. “Well yeah, that’d be AWESOME, but think about it, where else is a twelve year old supposed to go? Nightclubbing with those rowdy Mon Uni kids?!”

The sound of a chirping cricket echoed nearby.

Everyone turned around to face the college-aged insect sitting on a nearby tree branch.

“Oh, goodness, I'm sorry! I was just testing my mic” the green and brown cricket awkwardly apologized. She shoved her laptop into her bag and leaped down the branches before scattering to another area. 

“To the streets!” Becky hollered as she glided towards the nearby tree. 

The trio followed her as they left the park and ran towards Bloom N Shack Department Store. The floor was still slightly damaged from the collapsed architecture last month. All four kids scaled up the spiralling black and blue staircase and towards the rooftop. They peeked in curiosity from the rooftop and towards a colorful alleyway below them. Amelie was sitting nearby one of the tables and was in the middle of a virtual call.

Becky peeked out from behind the grey trash can. She watched as two adult animals were arguing below them. One of them was a grey moth with black hair, the other was a beige and brown porcupine. The bird looked in as she watched their seething spat.

“What do you mean you’re not doing the interview?! I told you I can’t do it!” the grey moth shoved the other animal away from him.

  
The porcupine snarled in defense

“Well I’m sorry but I read your latest article and it’s bullshit, Elijah! Opioids aren’t as bad as _you_ make them out to be!”

  
“We live in West Virginia, you Shmendrik bastard! Do you know how many animals die from the opioid crisis daily?! For fuck’s sake I lost my own brother last year from an overdose and the pharmacies threatened to sue _me_ for slander” Elijah couldn’t believe the idiocracy he was hearing from his own co-worker.

The two animals got into a scuffle, roughly shoving each other back and forth in the alley. 

Becky took a deep breath in, pulled a green and white boomerang out of her left thigh belt, then chucked the weapon towards the brawl beneath her feet. She heard a loud whack echo from the bottom before she caught the toy back.

The moth was lying cold and on the ground as the porcupine ran away from the scene. Becky felt her heart race after she saw the animal face down on the dirt. Fuck. The news would be all over her ass, her parents would be the city’s pariah and divorce, and her promising career protecting the city would go down faster than the Hiroshima bomb. She'd have to change her name, maybe lie about her species (dove could work), and move all the way up to Canada.

“Now what?” Ponce asked. 

Becky snapped out of it.  
“Well we gotta see who this is first! COME ON!”

She energetically leaped from the rooftop and landed on her feet. The trio jumped down as well. Bell and Ponce landed on the ground while Toshi crashed into the trash can. He shuddered in disgust from the black trash bag bursting and its contents spilling all over him. Fortunately it was just half-empty beer cans from a nearby bar, but it was still disgusting!

“Gimme a break…” Toshi muttered under his breath as he tried to shake the remaining droplets off.

Becky flipped the tall grey moth over and took a good look at him. She felt his heart lightly beating and him breathing in and out like he was timed. Bell was digging through his jacket pockets and she pulled out a brown leather wallet.

“I don’t think that’s very ethical, Bell” Ponce interjected. 

“Yeah, it isn’t, but we should at least know who this guy is” Becky snarked back. “We won’t tell him we know who he is!”

Toshi walked over and looked through the wallet. Together, the group found three shiny credit cards, a West Virginia driver’s license, and an ID for the Appalachia Day local news. 

“Hm, interesting,” Toshi said as he read through the identification cards. This guy’s name was Elijah Mesoras, he was 38 years old and he lived in the Walnut Apartment Complex in the Star District. Oh great. Maya’s dad. So _that’s_ where she got the asshole complex from in the first place. Unless...

“Well we gotta get him back to his place” Becky told them as she tried to lift him up by the shoulders.

“Why? His kid’s an asshole to everybody in our school!” Bell tried to reason with her.

Becky wanted to facepalm, but she had her wings full of a barely conscious moth.

“That doesn’t mean you can just leave HIM here to die! Come on, guys, if you’re gonna join me for the day at least have some better ethics!” she snapped into a short rant.

The trio looked at each other and shrugged. What the hell, if they run into Maya they could at least use this for good blackmail. Hell maybe she could even have a change of heart.

After spending two hours navigating the unfamiliar setting that is the Star District, the foursome finally found the Walnut Apartment Complex. They ran into the empty lobby room and headed towards the white elevator. Toshi pressed the elevator button. 

“So which apartment does he live in again?” the ferret asked the rest of the group.

“The card said 602 I think” Ponce said as he held the elevator open for anyone else coming in. Fortunately, nobody else was following them into the cramped space.

Ten minutes later, the quad finally made it to the sixth floor. They dragged themselves out of the elevator and towards the cream door with a plate hanging off and reading 602. 

Toshi loudly knocked on the door. Fuck, none of them had keys on hand, so hopefully, somebody would open the damn door.

Inside the studio apartment, Maya was in the middle of writing a piece about the new coach and his credentials. She heard knocking. Oy vey!

Maya groaned in annoyance then walked over to open the door. This is just what she wanted out of today. She decided to let the quad inside of her studio apartment.

“Oh, hello _Belinda,_ ” Maya calmly greeted the bird in front of her. Her dark brown hair was tied in a loose side ponytail. She was wearing a loose long sleeved sleeved purple sweater and a light brown pair of sweatshorts. Two of her arms were crossed, while the other two were carrying a warm cup of black unsweetened tea.

“I see you brought the school assholes along”

“Hey!” Bell, Ponce, and Toshi yelled at her. Who was she to call other people assholes?!

“School...assholes?” the bird tilted her head. “I’m afraid I don’t understand?”

“You don’t have to, dear” the moth chuckled. “Just knowing that you killed my dad will be very interesting news all across Pondovadia”

“Wh-” Becky flinched. “What?! He’s not dead! He's resting”

“Do you think I was born yesterday, huh? Do you?!” Maya snapped and threw her finished cup at the carpeted floor. She stomped towards Becky and jabbed her finger into her chest.

“He may seem alive, but really, I could just twist the facts around and say that he died in Meteor by the Minute. I’m losing views for fuck’s sake!” the moth snarled in fury. 

“Yeah because you’re a total liar and we’re sick of it!” Bell yelled back.

Maya rolled her eyes. “It’s not about that, Bell! I don’t care about dishonesty! It’s about me getting my social media accounts verified before any of you bastards ever will!”

Becky felt like she was being electrocuted just from what this, this complete and utter jerk was saying. 

“Why are you being such a jerk, Maya” the bird tried to reason with her. “Can’t you let us at least try to save your dad!”

“I could” Maya rolled her eyes. “But I have better things to do, like asking you four to kindly get the fuck out of my apartment! I have to write about our new coach and how at least he didn't sleep with any fourteen year old girls”

“But you invited-- oh screw it, we’re staying here whether you want us to or not” Ponce snarked. “You may not like us but we’re saving your dad anyways”

“Ugh, fine” Maya rolled her eyes and sat back down on the table. “But if he dies, may a child be named after all of you!”

She seethed in fury, watching as the quad walked to her dad’s unconscious body.

“And you four should be _very_ lucky my mom isn’t home or she’ll beat all your asses with the chancla” Maya snarled and got herself a new cup of tea. “But anyways, do whatever you need to do to save him”

Becky and Bell lifted up Elijah by the arms while Ponce and Toshi grabbed him by the legs. They carried him from the hard wooden floor and over to the downy royal purple couch. He was lightly breathing and his heart slowly beat. 

“Hmm….” Toshi looked up and down the sofa.

Ponce pointed at his head “It looks like he was just knocked out for a bit.”

Bell was trying to open the freezer, but found it was absolutely sticky.

“Aw, damnit!"

She pushed the moth off her before swinging the freezer door open anyways. Bell dug through the ice cold box for anything that could help-- a bag of frozen sweet potato fries, some uncooked livestock short ribs, a couple pints of ice cream made with almond milk. Oh, here they are! She pulled out three blue ice packs and tossed them towards Toshi. He caught two in each hand and one with his tail. 

“I don’t think that’s _exactly_ what we need here, you guys” Ponce pointed out. 

“Oh, that’s just fantastic” Toshi rolled his eyes and huffed.

“Well what do we need then?” Becky was curious.

Ponce ran over to the nearby medical box. He ripped it open and dug through for anything to treat unconsciousness. 

A deep coughing and a groan came from the small living room. Everyone turned around to see what was happening. The chimera ran over to the couch with medical supplies still in hand.

Elijah shook his head and sat up. He had two of his hands on the couch and the other two holding his pounding head.

“Oy vey, this isn’t the alleyway with that asshole from work….” he looked around the cushy studio apartment. 

“Wow” Maya gasped in surprise. “You-- you actually have him awake!”

Elijah yawned and stretched a bit. "I think I might need the week off"

The young moth felt herself stunned 

“Oh! Hey, Mr. Mesoras!” 

Becky was restyling her spiky hair. “We were just trying to get you out of that alleyway”

“Oh, well, thank you for that” Elijah reached out and patted Becky on the head. “I think you four should run along now”

“Of course!” Becky did a triumphant pose. “The ever grand Verdante has more work to do! Come on!”

The bird eagerly sprinted out of the apartment and down the stairs, leaving everyone else to their own devices.

"Well, uh" Maya looked away before shaking her head. "I can't believe I'm saying this" she thought to herself.

"I actually have to thank you guys for this" Maya finally looked over at the trio. "I thought you three were overexaggerating pricks on all your adventuring but....wow"

"Well, it's no problem" Bell said. "But can you promise us something?"

"Hm?" Maya tilted her head. What now?

Ponce held his hand out to her  
"Yeah....Can you not be such a dick in the school paper?"

"I knew you three were gonna bring it up..." Maya sighed. "Okay. I'll reboot the entire paper. No gossiping, no personal insults, and maybe more interviews with other students. But I don't want the rest of the students thinking I've gone _soft._ If anyone asks, just say it's a private matter."

"Deal" Ponce shook both her right hands. 

"Anyways" the moth was still looking away. "Would you three mind 'hanging out' here for a bit? We haven't had much visitors here in a while"

"Sure, I guess" Bell shrugged. The trio took their seats at the open bar inside the complex.

Maya turned around to start making some loose-leaf chamomile tea. She poured a few scoops of dried flowers into the pretty blue and white teapot before setting it on the stove.

"Look, most of the stuff I said in the paper, I don't actually mean it" she began to explain. "Unfortunately the fucking clickbait is the way to go with most news and it disgusts me. But they don't call it clickbait, no, obvious clickbait was deemed illegal centuries ago"

Bell, Ponce and Toshi looked at each other as Maya began to rant.

"It's a cold world out there" Maya shook her head as she pulled out a few matching teacups. "The fucking cunts at Bugfeed can get away with their derivative pandering schlock. Yet it gets hype so damn easily thanks to the FUCKING lowest common denominator"

"Wait, but what about Jamie?" Bell pointed out. "Does she know about all of this?"

"......Actually, she does" the moth finally finished making her tea and set the cups down, one for herself and one for the trio. "I told her I wanted to redo the whole paper for a while now. She told me it'd be a good idea but I needed something in my life to 'kick off that spark' whatever that means. We knew each other since kindergarden over at Justice Elementary."

——

October 8

12:15 PM

“Hey did y'all get invited to Tobias’s birthday party too?” Bell asked Ponce and Toshi as they sat down for lunch.

“Yeah” Toshi nodded as he pulled up the digital invitation. It was a gradient gold and green banner that read “Fiesta en el parque de Aqualung”.

“Sure did!” Ponce grinned. “I heard his mom’s making tamales!”


	12. No Fire Brigade, Just Pyromania

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bell's week hypes her up for the new Blyned Jagwar concert in the city!

October 11, 302X

8:15 AM

“Hey Bell!”

Klarisse hollered from her bedroom as she was changing out of her nightgown and into her usual outfit-- a brown cardigan with darker stripes on the sleeves, a light green turtleneck sweater, a forest green pleated above-the-knee skirt with a white stripe, sheer tights, fluffy ankle socks, and calf-high beige buckled riding boots. Her dark brown hair was still messy and falling against her tail. After getting dressed she pulled her hair into a high messy bun.

“Bell! Wake up already, damnit!” She yelled loudly.

Her younger sister groaned in annoyance.

“I don’t have school today!”

“I don’t care! Just get up already!” Klarisse yelled back. 

After getting dressed, she swung the door open and sat down to get a cup of coffee. 

Bell dragged herself out of her bedroom and was still wearing her fuzzy kigurumi pajamas. She grabbed a matcha energy drink and took a seat nearby the kitchen table.

“What is it?!” she groaned in exhaustion.

“I just wanted to ask if you wanna pick out a new Blyned Jagwar hoodie with me” Klarisse shrugged as she set her laptop on the granite counter. “You still wanna go Friday, right?”  
  
“Yeah, I do” Bell yawned before drinking her energy drink. “Can I have a blue one?”

“I don’t know, did you do better on your geography test last week?” Klarisse asked her as she pulled up the official Blyned Jagwar merch store. She was looking at the hoodie section-- several of them had the band’s logo on them while others had album covers or titles from their singles. Hm, let's go with a hoodie from their new album.

Bell pulled up her grades for the geography course she was in. “Yeah! I went from a 20 the first time to an 89 on the retake!”

“Well good job” the older girl flashed a rare smile and patted her head. “What size do you want then?”

“Medium”

\-----

October 12

12:02 PM

Bell walked nearby the eighth grade lunch tables. It was a convenient shortcut for her to head past the gossipy seventh graders. She saw one of the eighth graders walking over to his seat. He was a dark grey ferret in beige pants and a red Blyned Jagwar hoodie-- hey, it’s based off their fourth album Histrionic! The last album before their first lead singer died after a heroin overdose! Not every day you see a kid around your age into the same band, she thought to herself.

She yelled to him

“Hey! I like your hoodie!”

The ferret with short red hair turned around in confusion. Oh great, it’s some sixth grader he never met before. 

“You do?” he asked her. 

Another animal at the table, a white lion with long pink and blue dreadlocks, whispered to him

“Just play along Malcolm, most sixth graders are dumbasses”

“Yeah” Bell asked him with a twinkle in her eyes. “Blyned Jagwar! So what’s your favorite song by them? Mine is Cheating and Eating!”

Malcolm burst into laughter then resumed his deadpan behavior.

“Look, I don't know you, but I don’t actually _like_ Blyned Jagwar, this hoodie’s meant to be ironic”

Bell was on the urge of facepalming. 

“Well sorry for trying to say hi” she scoffed, then went back to her table. 

“What a dick” she groaned in annoyance as she slammed the lunch tray down.

“What happened now?” Toshi asked her.

Bell rolled her eyes. “I tried saying hi to that Malcolm guy because he had this awesome hoodie on, but he basically just told me to fuck off. Are most eighth graders assholes like him?”

“Yeah, they are,” Chris said as he dipped his fries in some barbecue sauce. “A lot of them are just in that phase where being a sarcastic little shit is their entire personality trait. It's pretty exhausting if you ask me. Most of them grow out of it by freshman year in high school, if that’s anything my other cousin Evan told me”

“And that’s why Carnegie and Ander are the most unpopular kids in the eighth grade” Aster blurted out. “Because they like things without that excuse of irony. Did they even pay attention in English class? Irony is stuff like a fire department catching on fire”

“Hm, that sounds about right,” Ponce noted. “They’re the ones who always smoke weed in the boiler room, right?”

\------

October 13

4:45 PM

Ponce and Toshi were busy attending a tutoring session for geology after school, leaving their friend to her own devices. Klarisse was busy with grading papers in the meantime. She cringed from some of the awful papers while others really impressed her like no tomorrow.

Bell was looking through a list of music blogs based in the Pondovadia scene-- some covered the folk or punk scenes while others were more about more 'mainstream' bands. One article caught her eye-- “Blyned Jagwar’s Upcoming Pondovadia Concert, written by Malcolm Mendeleev”

She clicked on the link and skimmed through the article.

“From the southern California punk scene to national rock radio, Blyned Jagwar proves themselves again to be a competent band who keeps their head up despite numerous controversies surrounding the rock icons. From the heroin overdose of their first lead singer Ricardo Toledo to the more recent allegations of several illegitimate children sired by guitarist Pascal Terrarium, nothing can stop the rock giants from putting on a great show!

Their upcoming concert this Friday at the Gee Stadium is a mix of old and new songs, including a song or two from their upcoming album ‘Motley on the Rocks’. Also they’ll be headlined by the all-women pop punk band the Disintegrators”

The beaver left a comment on the blog post.

“Great post! But what’s this part about illegitimate children though?”

She got up to make a snack for herself— crunchy celery sticks dipped in a thick peanut sauce. When she came back with the food in hand, she saw a direct message to her account from Malcolm himself.

“Oh, hey. I don’t really know you but you seem trustworthy so I’ll tell you this. Yes, Pascal has several illegitimate kids across the country. I think we go to the same school together, so I know for a fact one of the kids there is a result of those rumors. I think she goes by Jojo. I don’t know what grade she’s in but I know damn well it’s not eighth.”

Bell wrote back to him.

“Oh really? Maybe I could see what she knows about them!”

Malcolm wrote back to her

“Good luck, you’re gonna need it. Last I heard she's in detention all the time...”

—-

October 14

12:10 PM

“Hey, Jojo, is it true?” Bell walked over to Joan’s table, lunch tray still in hand.

“Is _what_ true?” Joan apathetically looked up from her phone and turned around to face Bell. 

“Is it true that Pascal Terrarium is your dad?” the beaver curiously asked her.

Joan’s right eye twitched and she slammed a fist on the table.

“Fucking hell, Bell, you’re the fifth animal at this dumbass school that asked me about that stupid fucking band today!” she snapped and stood up from the table. Her other friends got up and walked away from the table

“He’s **not** my dad! That’s just a stupid rumor that dickhead Malcolm put out on his shitty blog to make me look bad!”

Joan readied her fist and socked Bell in the face. The beaver flinched and gently held her swollen cheek with a fury in her eyes.

“Oh, oh fuck I’m sorry!” Joan darted her eyes around to make sure nobody else aside from her group was looking. Fortunately everybody else was busy to their own devices.

Ten minutes later, Joan was dragging Bell over to the nurse’s office down the hall.

“I’m really, really sorry!” the chimera tried to reason with Bell. “You know I’m not usually that violent, I swear!”

“Are you sure?” Bell groaned in pain and had a slight lisp. “It still hurts pretty bad”

Joan darted her eyes away before looking back at Bell. “Yeah, I swear! We don’t have to tell anybody else about this, just say to the nurse you crashed into the wall”

Bell nodded. She turned her phone all the way off so it wouldn’t go off any time soon.

The duo turned around to watch Aster walk out of the office while fidgeting with gauze wrapped around the knuckles on his right paw. He had a tired look in his eyes.

“Meltdown?” the beaver quickly asked him.

The dog nodded

“Yeah”

before heading back to the lunchroom.

“Next” A voice spoke from the nurse’s office. “I said _next_ ”

The chimera whispered to her

“Geez, this nurse doesn’t sound right”

Joan dragged Bell by the hand into the nurse’s office. Bell sat down on the white examination table while Joan stood next to her with her arms crossed. The walls were clean and white. Both girls took a good look at the desk in front of them. Instead of the usual plain desk with no decor whatsoever, the desk now had a new laptop in the middle, a cloth of gingham fabric, a polka dot spinny chair, and several framed photos.

A tall brown shark with darker freckles and a grey underbelly walked out from the bathroom. Her tail was brushing against the tile. She had long black hair that reached her back, baggy green scrubs, white sneakers, and a green headband keeping her hair back. On her chest, there was a shiny white and blue tagline that read ‘Florence’.

“So what’s the problem, kiddo?” Florence asked as she walked to the table.

Bell was still holding the side of her face. “I crashed into a wall”

“Hmm, that’s unfortunate” the shark moved Bell’s hand away. She put a pair of plastic gloves on and nudged her mouth open. “Well lucky for you none of your adult teeth got injured. But if you ask me, I really think you need braces sooner than later”

“Damnit” Bell thought to herself. 

“It’s because she’s a beaver isn’t she?” Joan piped in.

“Not to sound speciesist but yes” the nurse explained as she continued to look in Bell’s mouth. “most beavers _do_ need braces in their teenage years or their teeth will grow out of control and grow into the skull. It's common amongst most rodents”

Bell and Joan both shuddered from what they were hearing.

Florence pulled her hands off her before handing her a blue ice pack. It was wrapped in a cute ocean print towelette.

“But you’ll be fine. If it makes you feel any better, Mayor Canadendrum had to get braces too at one point and look at him! But anyways kiddo, just keep this pack on there for the rest of the day”

“Thanks” Bell nodded as she held the cold pack to her cheek. She hopped off the exam table.

The alarm rang loudly through the hall.

Bell and Joan headed out of the nurse’s office and down the hall. In between several students, they saw Beatrice sneering and whispering to herself as she was typing away on her phone. Joan felt a coldness freeze herself into place.

\----

October 15

12:10 PM

“Well thanks a _lot_ , Malcolm” Bell snarked as she approached the grey ferret in the red hoodie. She still had a slight discoloration on the right side of her face from yesterday’s incident.

The hob looked up from his table.

“Oh, I'm sorry, do I know you?” he raised an eyebrow.

“It’s Bell?” she introduced herself. “The one from your blog? And before you ask, no I do NOT look like Mayor Canadendrum”

“Oh, that old thing” Malcolm scoffed. “Look, the blog is an ironic one. I didn’t mean for you to take it all so seriously, the thing with Jojo was a dumb inside joke. But uh, sorry about your face I guess”

“It’s fine” Bell lied between her teeth. She went back to her lunch table and scowled without amusement. Her friends looked on her on worry.

“Sorry that Jojo punched you, Bell” Chris tried to reassure her.

“Aw don’t worry about it” Bell smiled a bit. “She at least-- wait, how do you know what happened?!”

Toshi pulled up the article on the school paper. “Jamie wrote about it, she put it on detention watch. Joan's now the only sixth grader there today”

“Oh!” Bell was surprised. “I’m not sure why Jamie put that on there, but I guess she didn’t want Maya to cuss her out over not including it”

"Huh. Has anyone noticed Meteor by the Minute is actually good now?" Aster pointed out. "It's actually _news_ now"

Bell, Ponce and Toshi looked at each other. Fuck it, we'll tell Aster about the deal later, maybe next semester.

\----

2:35 PM

After the school bell went off, Bell sprinted down the hallway and saw Joan dragging herself to the detention room.

“Jojo! What happened?” she called out to her.

The chimera turned around to face the beaver.

“Fucking Beatrice saw us yesterday and squealed to the principal, sayin' that I beat you up” she told her.

“Wait but Beatrice hates both of us? What would she have to gain from ratting you out!” Bell had no idea what else to say. "And besides, that sucks"

“Tell me about it” Joan called out to her before she walked into the detention room. “I guess I’ll see you on fuckin Monday I guess”

——

6:45 PM

Bell happily walked through the concert iron gates with Klarisse. They were wearing matching navy and white gradient Blyned Jagwar hoodies.The sisters flashed their tickets to the weasel ticketmaster before going past the other gate and into the outside crowd.

“Hey I’m gonna go buy a drink,” Bell told her older sister.

Klarisse was in the middle of texting a drunk student from her fanfiction analysis course. 

“That’s fine, just text me when you’ll be back” she brushed her off. "And don't let anyone put anything in it!"

Bell eagerly ran towards the concession stand. She bumped into a kid around her age— damnit, it was that asshole Malcolm! Huh. He has a slightly higher voice pitch than the other guys in his grade. Hell even Ponce and Toshi sounded deeper than he did. The ferret actually looked pretty relaxed, unlike the smartass of a personality she saw at lunchtime.

“Oh, it’s you again” Malcolm shrugged as he sipped on some lemonade. He was still in the same red Blyned Jagwar hoodie as he was wearing on Tuesday.

Bell rolled her eyes

“Now I thought y'all didn’t like Blyned Jagwar, what are y'all doing at their concert?!”

Malcolm coughed as he looked away from her

“Irony. Fine, I’ll stop lying. I actually really like their stuff but nobody else in my grade does. Hell most of the asshole kids there don’t like anything!”

“Geez, why?” Bell was confused. She knew most eighth graders were dicks but there had to be a good reason why. 

“Honestly? It's a puberty thing” the ferret sighed. “It’s not _terrible_ in the seventh grade but in eighth grade it’s hell. It’s just not considered cool to like things there in the eighth grade. You’re all supposed to be bored with everything and ideas of fun are brushed off with ‘irony’ even though it’s not ironic at all. You at least know what true irony is, right?”

“Of course I do! But what about Carnegie and Ander? If they’re so aloof and annoyed with everything then why aren’t those two popular at all?” Bell sat down on the grassy hills and watched as the opening act, the Disintegrators, set up their instruments.

Malcolm joined her in sitting down. He spread his legs out a bit.

“It’s because they’re the most honest with themselves. They like art and music, weed smoking, and as far as I know, I’m pretty sure they’re a couple as well. Not in the petty ‘oh we had sex and broke up two weeks later’ so-called couple, the ones who genuinely like being around each other. Honestly I’m just telling you this stuff because you seem like a reliable kid”

“Aren’t you a kid too?” Bell asked him.

Malcolm shrugged

“Yeah but you’re just a sixth grader. You’re lucky enough that you get to enjoy life, have fun, and not deal with the ‘oh I don’t really like THIS its just ironic’ bullshit half the morons in my grade say”

“Hm, not really” Bell frowned a little. “I’ve dealt with other nonsense, like some of my classmates argue over the pettiest issues, and I think a few of the sixth graders are already getting it on. I know, I sound like the head of the school paper saying that stuff”

“Not really” Malcolm polished off his lemonade and chucked the cup into a nearby trash can. “If anything it sounds just like my experience with sixth grade”

Bell awkwardly laughed.

“Yeah. Hey you’re not as bad as I thought you were!”

“Yeah, I could say the same for you too” Malcolm was slightly flustered as he saw a girl their age walk nearby. “So do you mind if we just hang out tonight?”

“Sure!” Bell grinned a bit. “Wanna get some food while we’re at it?”

“Alright,” Malcolm said to her. "My mom and dad won't be home for a while anyways to cook anything"

The two kids got up and walked back over to the concession stands. They got in line and waited a bit for some caramel popcorn and fresh lemonade. Just as they were waiting, the same girl Malcolm saw earlier was standing behind both of them. Bell turned around to face her. She got a good look at the other animal-- grey fluffy fur, sharp ears, a dark purple pixie cut, one grey eye and one brown eye, a lavender tank top with a white rose on the chest...oh!

“Jojo?” Bell asked her. “What are you doing here?!”

Joan darted her eyes away in annoyance. 

“It’s not what it looks like, Bell! I came for my own reasons”

Malcolm suddenly thought of a good reason

“Let me guess, you came here to kick my ass because you’re still pissed off about the whole dad thing”

“Damn right I’m pissed off about it, Malcolm” Joan snarked back. “Because I ended up in detention again after that...that fucking bitch Beatrice squealed on me!”

“Aren’t you always in detention though?” the ferret asked her. 

The chimera rolled her eyes

“Yeah but not two times in one day!” 

Joan and Malcolm were glaring at each other.

“Hey yall, look” Bell pointed over at the stage.

The two kids turned around to face the stage. The Disintegrators had already begun to warm up their instruments. 

The grey spotted seal drummer clicked her drumsticks together three times, and then the lead singer, a tall Dalmatian with bright pink hair and wearing a garbage bag for a dress, introduced herself.

“Hey y'all it’s Dottie Crasher! How we all doing tonight?!” she called out to the crowd. 

The crowd eagerly cheered in response.

“Woo!” Dottie called out to them. “Anyways, I’d like to thank Blyned Jagwar for inviting us here. But for now, let’s get to the MUSIC! This one goes out to my shitty ex boyfriend! If you’re out there, Narciso, then here’s your big ol FUCK YOU!”

The drummer clicked her drumsticks again before pulling a drumroll. The giraffe guitarist and Friesian cow bassist each joined in with a sharp riff before Dottie belted lyrics into the microphone.

“Bland ideas in your borrowed head, you wear the clothes in your empty bed, you sucked the shirt right off of her back, you salivated on his day glow slacks…”

The crowd was getting pumped. A mosh pit was slowly starting to form near the stage, like a hurricane that wouldn’t stop growing. 

Bell, Joan, and Malcolm felt themselves pulled into the mosh pit against their will by several stronger and taller animals. 

The Disintegrators continued their musical assault

“You robbed the thrift store overnight, opened a boutique and hiked the price, you took your notes in all of the clubs, while claiming to be one of us”

Joan kicked her way through the moshpit and Malcolm ducked and tried to sneak underneath the taller animals. In a fit of desperation, she snarled and bit another animal on the bicep.

The enraged pale green baboon shoved Joan off of him and pinned her down onto her back. He pressed one hand onto her throat and the other was feeling up the hem of her tank top and trying to push it up her stomach. He licked his lips as he watched her struggle underneath him.

“Hey get off of her, pervert!”

Bell hollered then picked up a cup of beer from the ground and threw it at his face. He screeched in annoyance then let go of the chimera from under his hands. The ape ran off to the mens’ porta potties to clean his face, but not his actions.

The crowd was still moshing and raving harder than ever. Bell held her hand out to Joan and helped her off her feet. Malcolm ran back from the crowd and towards his companions.

  
“Hey, uh, thanks for saving me out there” Joan looked away in embarrassment. “You’re not gonna tell anyone what happened, right?”

“Pfft, fuck no. Who would I blab about it to?” Bell reassured her with a gentle pat on the shoulder. Joan flashed her a rare smile. 

An hour had passed and the Disintegrators finished their last song for the night. After moving their band equipment off the colorful stage, Blyned Jagwar had finally come up on stage. 

Jaggart Ward cleared his throat before speaking into the microphone. He was a tall brown and black jaguar with long blond hair down to his thighs and he was wearing a rose print tank top and ripped black pants.

“Wow, the Disintegrators killed it out there” he happily chuckled as the crowd cheered. “Anyways, we’re proud to announce our Motley on the Rocks album will be out in just two weeks! In fact, we’re starting the show off with a song off that album that Pascal here wrote”

A lavender and eminence panther waved from the stage. He walked up to the microphone

“Yeah, it’s about a girl I fell in love with but never got to know-- it’s called Just Pyromania”

“What, no Fire Brigade?” Malcolm shrugged. 

“I think they retired that one after Ricardo Toledo died” Bell whispered back to him.

"Oh, right" Malcolm awkwardly chuckled.

Blyned Jagwar took their spots and then began to rock out for a solid two hours.

Joan wrapped an arm around Bell's upper shoulders as Blyned Jagwar kicked off their show.

_"I shot my load that one time_

_Yet you act like it was such a crime_

_The bastard aint mine, yes I know_

_Pyromania, give me a blow!"_

\-----

10:15 PM

Bell knocked loudly on Ponce’s apartment door. She waited a few minutes for somebody to open up, until the chimera opened the door wide open.

“Oh” Ponce yawned loudly “Hey Bell. How was the concert?”

“It was pretty fun” Bell was still rubbing her eyes. “Klarisse got so drunk that she accidentally locked me out of our place, can I stay here?”

Ponce yawned again 

“Sure. Toshi’s here too”

“Great” Bell took her shoes off, set them near the floral welcome mat, and walked into the tidied up apartment. 

She headed over to the door labeled “PONCE’S CAVE” and swung it wide open. The beaver walked towards the bed and crawled under the triangle pattern bed sheets. Lucky for her, Toshi was so worn out he barely moved as his friend crawled in. 

Bell pulled the sheets up to her chin and nuzzled her head into the downy pillow. She didn't move an inch as she felt Ponce crawl into the same bed and nudge up against her. The bed was warm and comfortable, causing the two of them to quickly fall asleep.

Another fun Saturday would be coming up for the trio...

  
  



	13. No Doctor That Can Cure my Disease

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ponce goes to the hospital with his mom for Take Your Kid to Work Day!

October 18, 302X

6:15 AM

“Ugh…”

Ponce rolled out of bed. It was still dark outside. He landed on the white rug on his floor with a heavy thud. He got up and changed out of his clothes from last night and put on his usual fall outfit-- a grey long-sleeved shirt, a black short sleeve hoodie with lilac and white squares on the back, tight black pants, and purple knee-high sneakers. He heard a knock on his bedroom door.

“Poncio!” a light feminine voice called out to him. 

The chimera was spiking up his hair with some gel in the green mirror. The coldness of the hair product felt slippery against his fingertips. He sprayed some pungent hairspray throughout his quiff. Another knock echoed on the door.

“Poncio!!” the voice grew louder. 

Ponce continued to ignore the voice outside. Just as he finally finished doing his hair, he heard the loud snap of a chancla thrown against his door.

“Dale, Poncio, despierta ya pendejo!!”

Marcela forcefully opened the door in one hand. She still had her black and white chancla in her left hand.

Ponce looked at her and groaned

“Son solo las seis de la mañana”

The lilac turtle groaned and rolled her eyes in annoyance then pulled her phone out of her pocket. She pulled up a calendar--today was marked with a bright red dot.

“¡Es el Día del Niño de Trabajo!” Marcela set her chancla down and went to the kitchen. She was texting Carlos to let him know about her upcoming work day. 

Ponce walked to the kitchen and opened the white fridge covered in glossy flowery magnets. He dug through the several tubs of butter (that weren’t filled with butter), the containers of leftover picadillo, and the chilled wine to find an energy drink. He pulled the drink out, slammed the door shut, then cracked the drink open and chugged it as quick as possible. It burned his throat but it was worth it for some energy throughout the day.

After he chucked the empty can in the trash can, Ponce checked his pockets for the day— phone, wallet, spare keys, that should do it. He followed Marcela outside their apartment, walked down the stairs, and went over to the Wheeling car garage across their place.

Marcela looked around on the fifth floor for her car— a blue station wagon with a dent in the back. She unlocked the door and got in the driver’s seat while Ponce sat in the passenger’s seat and buckled up.

Ponce pulled his phone out and began to text his friends. The car rolled out of the garage and hummed as it traveled down the highway.

——-

Ponce: So guess whos going to the hospital

Toshi: i just woke up so wtf

Bell: Same here. What happened now?!

Ponce: Its fine, just take your kid to work day

Bell: Damn. Wait which hospital is it? Is it the one Robby went to when he broke his leg?

Ponce: Yeah, its Rubellite, I’ll be fine

Bell: Btw I used Klarisse’s account to enter the homecoming raffle. If I win do y'all wanna come with me? I’ll end up winning three tickets!!

Toshi: sure

Ponce: Hell yea, Bell

——

6:49 AM

Rubellite Memorial Hospital. Clean, efficient, and high quality. This hospital is located in the northern half of Pondovadia, while the southern half is served by the South Lake Hospital. It has nine floors and at least forty rooms. Like most hospitals built after the war against humanity’s extinction, Rubellite usually hires chimeras as high quality doctors while ‘purebred’ animals are hard working nurses. 

Marcela rolled her station wagon into the car hub. The turtle flashed her ID lanyard to the ticker in front. She parked her vehicle on the highest floor. After turning the car off, she put her keys in her fanny pack and put on a light blue adhesive surgical mask. She handed Ponce his own mask and waited for him to put it on. 

The duo locked the car then walked through the parking lot hub and towards the entrance for floor five.

The halls of the hospital were shiny and clean. Several animals in scrubs dashed up and down the endless halls. Some animals had their hands full of medical supplies while others were pushing cots and trays. Marcela bumped into one of her coworkers.

The animal in front of her was a tall black crow with pretty grey eyes and a shiny silver beak. She was wearing sky blue scrubs. Her hair was in two short low platinum pigtails.

“Oh, Marcela! I thought you weren’t coming in today” the bird chirped. “Who’s the pipsqueak though?”

The turtle facepalmed and groaned. “Angelica, this ‘pipsqueak’ is my _son_.”

Angelica squawked

“Oh, right! I forgot it was take your kid to work day. Well, I just let Daisy and Danny play in the kids' room. They'll have some playmates”

She looked down at Ponce and patted his head. His hair was forcibly flattened after a long time spiking it right.

“You really look just like your dad, sport!” the crow tried to compliment him.

“Uh, thanks?” Ponce raised an eyebrow. His hair was now brushing against his chin and limp from the hairspray.

“Don’t sweat it” Angelica chuckled in amusement. “You chimeras are just adorable! Now come on, we got IVs to change! Get the pipsqueak to follow us, Marcela, we could teach him more important stuff than that ragtag middle school could ever cover!”

“You heard her, Poncio” Marcela followed her coworker towards one of the hospital rooms. 

Ponce shrugged and tagged along.

The trio sprinted towards room twenty six. A few animals were moving empty hospital cots down the hall. Marcela shoved the hospital curtains open and headed towards the animal in the hospital cot. It was a pale scarlet macaw wearing a green and white gingham hospital gown. There was an IV embedded in his arm and several wires sticking to his chest. 

Marcela opened the cabinet and pulled out a bag of saline fluid.

“So what do I do now?” Ponce asked the two animals. 

“Just watch me, kiddo” Angelica reassured him. She removed the empty saline bag from the IV drip and properly disposed of it. Marcela walked over and handed her the new bag. The macaw was a little too occupied with staring at Angelica’s bust.

The crow finished hooking up the saline bag to the IVs. 

Afterwards, the trio rushed down the hallway again to another room-- this time it was a high school aged tarantula who needed bandages changed. There was a loud beep coming from inside the bird’s pocket.

Angelica pulled a pager out of her left pocket. She looked at the alert—urgent care. Fuck.

The crow and turtle sprinted towards the stairs, leaving Ponce alone in the hallway. Fortunately for him there weren’t any other animals in the hallway at the moment.

“Hm” Ponce shrugged to himself. 

He sat down on a nearby sofa and texted his friends. The couch was sky blue and fluffy to the touch.

—-

9:35 AM

Ponce: Well things finally got interesting here

Bell: What happened now?

Ponce: My mom and her coworker ran to urgent care and ditched me

Toshi: someone dying maybe

Ponce: No shit

Bell: Is your mom gonna make y'all help out?

Ponce: Bell she literally ditched me I don’t think she’s gonna make me help with that part lmao

Bell: Oh, right! You still wanna hang out tonight?

Ponce: Sure

Toshi: i’m up for it i got some new doujinshi to read anyways

——

Marcela and Angelica sprinted down the stairs and towards the first floor. They dashed outside the emergency center and towards the ambulance. 

“Come on, hurry up you two!” A sea green bottlenose dolphin hollered from inside the ambulance. She rolled the cot out and towards Marcela and Angelica. 

The two animal nurses rolled a gruesome mess into the ER. A brown deer was on his back and gasping for air as he clutched his stomach with his hooves. His antlers were partially snapped off, barely hanging onto the stumps of bone at his head. He had several stab wounds puncturing his torso and clothes. Blood seeped from his holes and dripped onto the floor and cot. His blue and green clothes were stained a deep shade of red.

“What happened?” Marcela asked her coworker as she rushed towards the door.

“I don’t know,” Angelica sighed in exhaustion as she spread the emergency door wide open with her wings. “The ambulance crew said he was rushed in from nearby the university”

The duo pushed the cot into the emergency room and stood by the buck’s side. Marcela checked his pockets for his wallet and pulled out an ID from the leather wallet. She read it as fast as she could

“It says he is…..fuck, I can’t read it. Angelica?”

She handed it to her coworker

“Hmm” the crow glanced up and down the shiny card. “Jordan Biancoda. He’s a professor from the Mon Uni media department”

Marcela ripped open her patient’s shirt to get a better look at the stab wounds. Blood splattered onto her blue scrubs. She looked closer at the open gashes in his torso.

“Anything else?” 

“Well he’s thirty-seven, species is a white tailed deer, no underlying health conditions” Angelica confirmed the rest of the data. “Did you get the towels?”

Marcela rushed to the cabinet, ripped the doors open, and grabbed a bundle of sanitized towels. “Yeah”

She placed two towels underneath Jordan’s back. Meanwhile, Angelica was in the middle of gathering stitches and waiting to hear from the surgeons. 

The crow’s pager beeped louder by the second. She checked the screen again.

“He’s ready for surgery” she chirped to her coworker. “Get him in the operating room now!”

“Right!”

Marcela yelled to her as she wheeled Jordan down the hallway and into the operating room. 

\---

Ponce headed towards the hospital cafeteria for some quick lunch. After he got his hot meal, he sat down at a table and checked the group chat again. He slowly munched on the strips of ribeye as he wrote back to Bell and Toshi.

11:45 AM

Ponce: So uhh I guess I’m stuck here all day

Bell: Damn. Hey so Tabitha invited us to her costume party in a couple weeks!

Toshi: oh yea that thing

Ponce: Group costume

Bell: Group costume. 

Toshi: yea but what theme though

Ponce: 89 Days would be fun

Bell: For sure! I call dibs on being Macherie though

Toshi: how can you call dibs on a costume though and besides you’re way more like kyutarou than macherie

  
Bell: Toshi, please! You’re saying that because you wanna be Tenaki

  
Ponce: I’ll be Macherie then 

Toshi: we still need someone for sahir though or the cosplay won't be as good

Bell: Fuck. Let's go bug Benjamin, I think he's watched it too

\---

After his lunch, Ponce walked over to the operating room. He plopped himself on the nearby couch and placed his backpack next to him. The chimera pulled a phone charger out and finally charged his phone.

Meanwhile, in the operating room…

“Get the stitches, damnit!” the head surgeon, a black and tan Rottweiler, barked. She administered some oxygen towards the barely conscious buck.

“Yes, ma’am!” 

One of the other surgeons, a Beluga sturgeon, reached for the stitches. He carefully disinfected each wound on his patient. A few specks of pink glitter got all over his light blue gloves.

Another surgeon, a black cat, used a scalpel to leave several incisions on the deer’s torso. He grabbed the stitches and began to sew up every punctured organ. 

The rottweiler nudged him then she made her way to stitch the wounds in his skin. Afterwards, she paged Marcela and Angelica.

“Send patient number thirteen thirty one to floor four, room seventeen”

\---

“I am _not_ vaccinating my little Anabelle” the pink and red anteater snipped at the nurses. Her daughter was squirming in her arms and trying to kick her way out.  
“What if she becomes a chimera?!”

“Mrs. Arlington, please” Angelica begged with a sharp glare. “Chimera children only happen when animals of two different species reproduce OR if someone has a child with an animal that's already a chimera! You can’t just suddenly become a chimera overnight!”

Angelica was pulling a few vaccines and some pink and blue Peeky Pika stickers from the cabinet. 

“Oh, and how do you two know that, smartasses?” Mrs. Arlington scoffed in confidence. 

Marcela facepalmed from the stupidity of this patient. She snapped back

“I married a chimera AND had a child with him, you single fucking pube!” 

The pager went off. Angelica checked the little black box and showed it to her coworker.

“Excuse us” the turtle bluntly said to her patient.

She and Angelica rushed towards the operating room like their own lives were at stake. 

\----

12:25 PM

Ponce: So whos gonna be what for halloween

Benjamin: NO IDEA YET

Aster: I’m gonna be a sailor c: 

Ponce: Well I was thinking about being one of the 89 Days characters, probably Macherie

Benjamin: OH SWEET, YOU'RE INTO 89 DAYS TOO?! WHAT ABOUT BELL AND TOSHI?

Ponce: I think Bells gonna be Kyutarou and Toshis gonna be Tenaki, you wanna be Sahir with us?

BENJAMIN: IS THAT A TRICK QUESTION? YES! I DO! SAHIR'S MY FAVORITE ONE!!

-Robby has sent an image-

Ponce: TMI, Robby, TMI

Aster: …..I’m gonna leave the group chat until that gets deleted c:

Robby: aw fuck. yall that was supposed to be for joan yall!!

-Robby has deleted an image-

Benjamin: AW HELL NAH ROBBY

Ponce: alright i’m about to head out

\----

Marcela and Angelica rushed Jordan into room 1331. After they finally arranged his hospital bed properly, the damn pager went off _again_. This time, it was a teenaged mallard duck who twisted her ankle from playing soccer.

The two nurses ran outside the room and left the buck to his own devices.

Jordan reached for the remote and turned the television on. He didn’t bother changing the channel. 

“And the trial against Venice and Rube Pinnegedan will start next week. In other news, Mayor Canadendrum made a visit to South Pondovadia High School to meet his fourth illegitimate child.” The reporter droned on. “According to him he has “eight to go” and plans to accomplish this by the time his tenure is over”

\----

1:45 PM

Jordan felt himself unable to sit up from his hospital bed. His insides felt like they were twisted up and on fire at the same time. His vision was starting to blur. The buck could’ve sworn he heard his beloved mother calling out to him from the skies beyond the hospital ceiling.

Ponce poked his head inside the hospital room. 

“Hey….kiddo..” he called out to Ponce.

The chimera kid slowly walked to the hospital bed. 

“Yeah?” Ponce asked him.

Jordan turned his head to face the child.

“The mythicals. Don’t trust the damn mythicals…” the buck bleated before hacking up his final breath. His heart came to a sudden stop and his dark brown eyes rolled to the back of his head. Blood still leaked from the holes that penetrated his torso. The heart monitor droned on for a solid five minutes. Ponce suddenly went cold from what he just witnessed. 

Marcela rushed back into the hospital room. She sprinted to the bed and lowered the deer’s eyelids. She slowly peeled the stickers off on his torso. The turtle shook her head in regret. At least he was at peace now, she thought to herself.

Ponce felt like he was hit by a bus. He watched two bush hogs in blue trench coats walk into the hospital room. They grunted to each other as they wrote down some notes.

“Tell me sir, who is this?”  
“The stabbing victim from Mon Uni’s downtown campus”  
“Name?”  
“Jordan Biancoda, he was a professor in the media department”  
“Cause of death?”  
“Multiple stab wounds to the chest and stomach, blood loss”  
“Any immediate relatives to notify?”  
“A wife and three daughters”  
“Who was the attacker?”  
“I believe we don’t--”

Ponce butted in  
“Sirs, it was one of those mythical animals! I don’t know what that is but he told me before he died!”

The two hogs looked at each other before giving a hearty laugh. The taller one kneeled down so he was eye-to-eye with the child before him.

“I don’t think that’s plausible, kid” he tried to explain. “Most mythicals don’t usually congregate around the Mon Uni area”

“I mean, I don’t know what a mythical is” Ponce tilted his head.

The taller hog explained to him

“Well kid, mythicals aren’t ordinary animals like us” he continued on. “They’re based on old human legends, stuff like unicorns or manticores or even the kappa. Most of them keep towards themselves so we don’t see them often in Pondovadia society. A lot of them are quite rich as well, so unfortunately, most of them bribe their way through the system to spend less time incarcerated OR not face punishment”

Marcela stepped towards the officers and whispered to them. Both hogs made their way out the door. Two other animals, a basset hound and a mau cat, arrived and made their way to the deceased animal.

“Huh, well look at that, Drew” the cat glanced at the stitched wounds. “ _Glitter”_

“Glitter? But his clothes are completely plain, Franklin” Drew barked back.

“I know _that_ part” Franklin scoffed. “But if there’s glitter, that clearly means a mythical was the assailant”

“Huh?” Ponce raised an eyebrow.

Drew explained to the child as he used a q-tip on the wounds to gather up the glitter.

“See, unlike us common animals, mythicals shed glitter instead of fur, feathers, or old scales. That makes their DNA easier to track than most animals”

“But I thought mythicals could pay off the law” Ponce butted in.

Franklin meowed. “That’s true, but we still need to figure out _which_ mythical committed this speciesist crime”

“It’s speciesist now?” Ponce was intrigued at this new information.

“Yes, it is” Drew said as he examined the stitches closer. “Most mythicals are highly prejudiced against common species like us. However these incidents don’t usually happen in West Virginia, they're usually in areas like Texas, California or New York. This is the third mythical on commoner attack we’ve had in the state this year.”

“It’s quite concerning if you ask me” the cat shook his head. “However there is supposed to be an upcoming election next year and rumors say a mythical is one of the candidates” 

“Geez” Ponce shuddered. 

\-----

5:30 PM

Ponce kicked his shoes off then crashed on his blue bean bag with a groan. He heard knocking on his door.

“Come in” he groaned again.

Bell and Toshi walked into his bedroom. The ferret had already taken his shoes off. They both sat down on Ponce’s bed. There was a certain softness to the black blanket with white tiger print

“Well today was boring, what about you?” Toshi asked his friend. 

“I don’t want to talk about it” Ponce darted his eyes away from his friends. The palms of his hands were a little sweaty and his hair was looser than usual.

Bell coughed a bit  
“Ponce, please. Something’s wrong”

“Okay, _fine”_ Ponce sighed in exhaustion as his eyes twitched. “I watched another animal die for the first time”

“Well that sucks” Toshi didn’t know what else to say. 

The chimera groaned

“Yeah, it does suck. My mom told me the last time she couldn’t save a patient was before she had me” 

“Geez” Bell shuddered. “How gruesome was it?”

“Bell!” Toshi interjected. 

Ponce stretched a bit

“Well I only saw him die, not the stabbing part. But apparently some mythical stabbed the guy to death”

“Ugh” Bell cringed. “And I heard that most mythicals can pay their way out of jail too”

“Who’d you hear that from?” Ponce asked her.

Bell rolled over onto her back. Her ponytail draped over the beanbag and onto the floor.

“My sister. She said mythicals are all a bunch of higher up twits, but I’ve never met one for myself. Are there any in our school?"

"I don't think so" Toshi shook his head. "They all go to that Allegory Academy in the center of town AND they kill any commoner who enters their district"

"So wait" Ponce asked. "If a mythical and a commoner have a kid, where DOES the kid go, and-"

"Dinner's almost ready!" Carlos called out. 

The kids perked up then left Ponce's bedroom and headed towards the kitchen area. Carlos added a splash of white wine to the ropa vieja before stirring through the instant pot on the counter. The smell of garlic, tomato paste and wine filled the kitchen with a comforting aroma. Ponce and his friends sat at the counter.  
  
"Where's your mom at?" Bell asked her friend.  
Ponce said "She's in her room, she's been pretty worn out from today"

The older chimera pulled some dinnerware and filled up each bowl with two scoops of ropa vieja before he handed them out. While the group ate their dinner...

"So, what'd you kids get into today?" Carlos asked everyone. 

"Well, Mr. Ramirez" Toshi explained. "I mostly read some doujinshi and kept my little brothers from coloring on the walls"

"Hm, interesting" the older chimera nodded. "Raw or translated?"

"I only read untranslated if it's in katakana, hiragana's a lot harder for me" the ferret explained to him.

Carlos was already halfway through his ropa vieja.  
"Yeah, hiragana is pretty hard. I've had to have another interpreter come in just for written Japanese, but spoken is really easy for me" he explained. 

Bell whispered to Ponce  
"So is your mom not coming for dinner or?"  
  
He hushed back to her  
"She'll come out later when she wants"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all thanks for being patient with no new chapter last week. College's been tough


	14. What Do You Consider Fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio go to a football game!

October 19, 302X

12:45 PM

Monongahela University Downtown Library. Five stories tall, brown and white Greek inspired architecture. Gold and blue rhododendrons framed the marble entrance. Unlike the rest of Mon Uni, the library is frozen in time. Many students congregate on the first floor, such as a certain blue beaver in a cardigan...

“I can’t believe Bell entered that stupid ass raffle without telling me” Klarisse muttered to herself as she checked her emails for anything important. Graduation applications, no that’s for next semester IF they don't suddenly change around the requirements for creative writing. A drunk email from a student she wasn’t even teaching this semester? Probably some animal trying to hit on her, the beaver thought to herself. She put her white earbuds into her ears and pulled up a lo-fi hip hop stream. Now she could focus on grading papers from fanfiction analysis. Geez, this student writes like someone who was drunk, stoned, and high at the same time! Sure, ignorance was the reason that humans killed a bunch of sharks after Jaws, but really?! Fanfiction about cheating is going to promote cheating in real life?! This is exactly the opposite of what she’s been teaching this entire semester!

A notification dinged in her ears. She hated that sound but if she muted her laptop, she wouldn’t be able to hear her lo-fi stream. Ugh, what is it now?

“Congratulations, Klarisse Woodrow” the email read. “You won this week’s homecoming raffle. Here’s your three tickets for the game Saturday against Lone Star University!”

“.....You gotta be fucking kidding me” Klarisse thought to herself. She had way more papers to grade that weekend. Oh well, she could at least dump the tickets onto Bell and her friends and have the weekend to herself. 

\----

2:43 PM

Bell, Ponce, and Toshi were sitting on the school subway seats and watching a video on a theory about one of their favorite anime. They had the volume turned up since they were the only animals in the car that day. The phone bounced around in Bell’s hands as the subway zoomed faster through the underground tunnel.

“That’s bullshit,” Toshi scoffed. “The whole ‘ooo the series takes place in a coma’ thing’s been overdone since humans were around”

“Ugh, tell me about it” Bell rolled her eyes. Her phone buzzed in her arms. She turned her phone around and swiped up to see what Klarisse sent her. Oh, sweet, football tickets!

“Huh, congratulations” Ponce leaned over to read the text. “And here I was thinking you’d get grounded for using her email”

“Yeah, I thought so too,” Bell laughed. “Hey maybe if I’m lucky, those Mon Uni kids will think I’m her”

“I mean, the upperclassmen will be drunk enough, sure, but what about the freshmen?” Toshi snorted.

The beaver snorted back “They’re college kids, Toshi! They can just smuggle in their own booze. And besides, there’s a damn good reason Mon Uni’s the number one party school in America!”

\-----

October 21

2:02 PM

“So anyways class” Mr. Ursus was giving a lecture. He was pacing around next to the projector and clicking through several slides “A bastard is simply a kid whose parents weren’t married when they were born”

Leila raised her hand

“Mr. Ursus, with all due respect, what does any of this have to do with the government again?”

“Oh, well, Leila” the grizzly bear darted his eyes away. “There’s still the ongoing scandal regarding Mayor Canadendrum and his illegitimate children, so I figured I'd explain the concept of bastardry. Anyone else have a question” 

“Not to be a speciesist, but why _are_ most chimeras bastards?” Beatrice smugly asked with a glare in her eyes. 

The whole class groaned in annoyance

“That’s actually a stereotype,” Mr. Ursus growled back in annoyance. “Only twenty percent of chimeras are from illegitimate affairs, and even then, eighty percent of those are in the rural areas. Moving on…”

As the teacher rambled on about chimeras and their history in animal politics, Toshi felt like he was about to fall asleep. He hopped onto the school group chat and sent a few direct messages to his friends.

\----

Toshi: class is so boring also are we still going to the football game

Bell: Yeah dude, of course! 

Ponce: Do we need any Mon Uni clothes for the game

Bell: Yeah, probably. If I bug my sister enough she’ll let me borrow some

Toshi: yeah but what about us guys though

Ponce: We could stop by somewhere then for Mon Uni merch 

Toshi: oh yea anyways i gotta go back to class i think mr ursus is gonna call on me next

Bell: Alright. I gotta go with Klarisse tonight anyways, she wants to hang out at Amelie’s.

Toshi: alright

Ponce: Seeya in a bit

\----

3:45 PM

“So why are we going _here_ again?” Toshi asked Ponce as the duo walked to a triangular building in the Green Elk District. The sign near the door read “MON UNI STUDENTS GET 10% OFF THIS WEEK” while the building’s sign read “MOUNTAIN STATE STYLE”

The boys walked through the revolving door and into the clothing store.  
  


Ponce explained to him

“Well we need clothes for the game.”

The first floor was huge despite the small exterior. Several animals were busy looking for clothes while others were bored and sitting on the nearby benches. The walls were covered in blue and gold decorations while the floor and ceiling were plain in comparison. The duo walked up to a wood counter. A pink and white tiger in a dark blue uniform walked up behind the counter.

“Can I help you find something?” he asked them.

“Yeah, we’re looking for the Mon Uni section” Ponce said to the animal behind the glass. He was standing on his tiptoes and reached for a few mints from the glass dish.

“Second floor” the tiger said without a care.

Ponce stuffed the mints into his hoodie pocket. 

“Thanks!”

The chimera turned around with a smile.

“Well, let’s go!”

“Hm, alright” Toshi grabbed Ponce’s hand without hesitation.

The duo ran their way over to the brown stairs in the left corner. They scaled up the staircase and towards the second floor. The floor was flooded with all sorts of Mon Uni merch in their signature shades of gold and blue. Toshi let go of Ponce’s hand and pulled his phone out to take a picture of the displays.

Ponce and Toshi glanced to the left. There were a lot of winter clothes-- beanies, ushankas, scarves, gloves, even designer snow boots! 

The two kids sprinted to the middle section-- oh there’s the fall clothes!

The ferret plucked a tie dye blue and gold long sleeved shirt from one of the racks. The fabric felt like petting a cloud straight from the sky and the colors were vibrant even in the harsh lights.

“Hmm…” Ponce was looking at two different hoodies in front of him. He grabbed one of each-- a navy blue hoodie with the Mon Uni Buckskin mascot on the front, and a gold and blue striped hoodie with “Cue Country Roads” on the back in black text. 

The chimera mused to himself

“Buckskin, no, Country Roads, no, Buckskin, no!”

He turned around to Toshi and said to him

“ _Both_ ”

\----

October 22

5:40 PM

Bell, Ponce, and Toshi walked out of Sabre Gran while carrying some flan in a carryout bag. The trio looked over at the streets. Usually at this time, the downtown streets would be packed with traffic, but today, the roads didn’t have a single car. However, plenty of animals were walking down the sidewalk instead. Most of the animals were wearing Mon Uni merchandise of all kinds. While most of the animals appeared to be adults, none of them had children with them. Several animals were even stumbling around on their own footing!

“What the hell?” Ponce raised his eyebrows.

“Heyyy! Heyyyy!” another animal yelled from down the street. 

The trio turned around to face the hollering animal. It was a black and white Texas longhorn cow wearing a gold romper with a ribbon tied around her left horn

“Oh, hey, y’all, it’s Professor Woodrow!” the cow called out to her friends. “Come on, Professor Woodrow! Get over here!”

“It’s not even six yet, why are half these kids drunk already?” Ponce was still confused.

Toshi snarked back “It’s homecoming weekend, it’s a Friday night, and most of these kids are freshmen who fucked a senior for free booze. You do the math”

“Sounds about right,” Bell said to her friends. “Hey let’s see what that cow wanted with me!”

“If you insist” Toshi carelessly shrugged.

Ponce said “Sure”

And the trio ran through the crowd to the area where the Texas longhorn was sitting. She had a couple friends nearby her-- a grey and beige horned lizard, a white horse, and a black panther. 

“I told you this was Professor Woodrow!” the longhorn nudged her mare friend.

The white horse rolled her eyes “Bree, you’ve been drinking too much, that’s not Professor Woodrow. She’s way taller than that AND she's not a redhead!”

The three kids looked at each other

“Well fuck that noise then” Bell rolled her eyes. “Let’s find a better seat”

Bell, Ponce, and Toshi headed towards the other end of the street and sat down on a black bench together. 

The beaver cracked open an energy drink from her backpack  
“Well y’all” she sipped from the bright green can “This parade better be good”

A siren went off from the end of the road. 

“LET’S GOOOOOO BUCKSKINS!!!!”

The trio stood on the bench to get a better view of the homecoming parade. A pink sheep carrying a camera walked over nearby to film the parade for the local paper.

Five minutes later, a polar bear in uniform led the beginning of the parade. She waved a baton in the air as several dozen animals in gold and blue band uniforms neatly marched down the road. The percussion section kept rhythm in check while the brass section formed the shape of an M. Behind them, the woodwind section marched into the shape of a U. The marching band began to play their set. 

The animals on the sidewalks began to clap to the rhythm. Bell pulled a Mon Uni flag from her bag and waved it in a circle, Ponce jumped up and down and pumped his fist up in the air, and Toshi joined the clapping.

“I’m gonna fight them all!” a particularly loud golden retriever hollered from the side. 

As the marching band marched forward, several other animals in blue hoodies ran down the sides of the streets as the color guard twirled their flags down the road. Some were chucking candy to the crowd while others pelted t-shirts and frisbees. 

Ponce and Toshi waved to the color guard while Bell continued to twirl her flag.

A white silkie chicken looked over and pulled several frisbees out of his bag. The blue disks each had the gold Mon Uni logo on them. He tossed the toys towards the crowd one by one. 

Toshi tried to catch a frisbee but threw his head back as he got whacked in the face instead. 

“Oops, sorry!” the bird cried out.

The ferret shook his head then got up as Ponce snatched the frisbee for himself. Toshi glared a bit at his friend

“Really? I don’t even get to keep it?”

“Aw, Toshi!” Ponce nudged him playfully. “Who said I wasn’t willing to share it?”

“Hey y’all, look!” Bell pulled them closer to her and pointed at the roads.

The Monongahela University mascot was triumphantly marching down the road. It was a bright gold stallion with long reddish-brown hair and wearing brown buckskins, a coonskin cap, and calf-high buckskin moccasin boots. He was grinning and waving to the crowd with one hoof. In his other hoof, he was wielding a muzzleloader. The horse stopped in his place and fired a blank upright. 

The crowd went into a frenzy after the fired blank. Bell waved her flag as hard as she could. 

The stallion turned around to face the children in the crowd. He whistled loudly and beckoned the trio with his free hoof.  
“Well come on!” he called out.

Bell, Ponce and Toshi looked at each other and shrugged, then ran over to the buck skinned animal before their eyes. He picked Bell up with ease and carried her on his shoulders before making his way back to the road. Ponce and Toshi tagged along, now carrying Bell’s flag for her. 

“Oh and would you look at that!” the ewe called out for the camera. “The Buckskin got some young fans by his side! This is certainly a first for current mascot Clyde Dale”

“Anyone ever told you that you look an awful lot like a Canadendrum?” the college mascot said to Bell as the group continued marching past excited faces and cheering students. 

“Huh? A few times, yeah” Bell whispered to him before she looked back up and waved to the crowd.

Two hours of sheer joy had consumed the rest of the night. While some animals kept throwing candy, shirts, frisbees, and flags to the parade watchers, other animals decided to get adventurous and toss moonshine miniatures to the older looking students. The trio spent their Friday night embracing the Mon Uni lifestyle.

\-----

October 23

10:15 AM

“Klarisse!” Bell called out as she knocked repeatedly on the door. 

The room was quiet. Fuck it.

Bell opened the door anyways and called out  
“Hey so I’m going to the game soon, what subway route do I take again?”

“Ugh…” the older girl groaned as she tried to wake herself up. Her head was pounding and the sun was too damn bright. “Don’t take the subway for the game, Bell. They have shuttles outside for a reason”

“Okay, thanks!” Bell walked to the closet and opened the door. Several piles of clothes fell onto her. The middle schooler dug through the heavy pile for the exact shirt she needed-- a cream hoodie with blue and yellow stars trailing down the sleeves.

After Bell tunneled her way out of the pile, she walked to the black floor mirror and threw the hoodie on. Now her outfit was complete-- a black tank top underneath the hoodie, white denim shorts, opaque navy tights, shiny black ankle boots, and a bright blue bow with yellow stripes. 

Once she got dressed, Bell stuffed her backpack with everything she needed for the day-- her phone, wallet, earbuds, chargers, and a miniature bottle of vodka she stole from last night. She then pulled the collar of her hoodie and stuffed a few energy drink shots into her bra. She threw the backpack onto her shoulders, ran out the door, slammed it shut, and sprinted down the multiple flights of stairs. The young girl made it to the lobby and looked out the window as she waited on her friends to meet up. 

The elevator dinged in the lobby. Bell turned around to face the shiny silver doors.

The doors opened, then Ponce and Toshi leaped out the elevator. Toshi was wearing his new tunic while Ponce had on his striped Country Roads hoodie. The duo eagerly ran towards Bell.

“So what route do we get on?” Ponce asked Bell as he adjusted his backpack. 

“Actually, my sister said we need to get on a college shuttle instead,” Bell explained to him. “But I’m not sure where they meet though”

The trio shrugged at each other, then headed outside for the bright and sunny day. All three children ran down the street until they saw a few other animals in Mon Uni merch gathered at an empty bus stop. Amelie was sitting nearby, wearing a baggy blue sweater dress, a Mon Uni baseball cap, yellow thigh-high socks and tall black lace up boots.

“Oh! Hi Bell!” the lemur called out to the group. “Come on, I’ll save you three a seat!”

The three children ran towards her and sat down next to her on the black bench. 

“Hey, thanks y'all!” Bell grinned eagerly. “Sorry Klarisse isn’t here, she had a TON of papers to grade this week for midterms”

“Aw, it’s fine!” Amelie reassured her with a pat to the head. She began to clean her glasses as she blabbed on  
“I still can’t believe she won the raffle. You cheeky little rascals really pulled through!”

“Wait, Bell, who _is_ this?” Toshi interrupted her. He raised one of his eyebrows and tilted his head to the right

Ponce joined in with crossed arms 

“Yeah, is she one of Klarisse’s students?”

Amelie chuckled happily and held a hand to her chin.

“Oh no” she shook her head in amusement. “I’m a student, sure, but Klarisse isn’t one of my professors. We don’t even have the same major! We’re just really good friends, but I’m hoping to be more than friends eventually. Oop! I’m Amelie Polnareff, by the way”

“Well, my name’s Ponce” the chimera shortly introduced himself. 

Toshi did the same “And I’m Toshi” 

“Great!” Amelie eagerly wagged her tail. “So, first time going to a Mon Uni game in person, huh?”

“Yep!” Bell nodded quickly. “Oh, there it is!”

A dark blue shuttle rolled up to the stop. The golden Mon Uni logo was plastered on both sides, along with the front of the bus. There was no driver sitting inside the shuttle, instead, the vehicle was autonomous in design.

The door swung wide open. All the animals piled themselves inside and took their seats. Bell, Ponce, and Toshi sat together in the same row. After getting adjusted, the shuttle closed itself and began to drive from the southwest area towards the Mon Uni stadium. Toshi leaned towards one of the left windows so he could watch the scenery change.

Countless buildings were gradually replaced by rolling fields and dozens of students running around outside in careless shenanigans.

The shuttle came to a screeching halt at the bus stop. The door opened itself, then all the animals got off the bus and headed their separate ways. Amelie handed a small blue package to Bell.

"Can you make sure Klarisse gets this by today? Thanks!" she said before she rushed off to one of the tailgaters. 

“Wow” Ponce gasped as he looked at the stadium.

Bell and Toshi joined their friend in looking at the Buckskin Stadium. The titular stadium towered into the sky and was spread out as far as they could see. Right in front of the stadium, there was a copper statue of a gerbil wearing a suit and holding a basketball. The name “Hundley West” was inscribed on the bottom. 

An inebriated fire ant threw a lacy white g-string onto the head of the statue, then stumbled their way to a nearby trailer. 

Ponce pulled his phone out and took a picture of the statue  
“I think Chris will get a kick out of this” 

“Y'all think so?” Bell shrugged. She gently put away the little blue package inside of her backpack. “Anyways, we gotta get in there before we miss anything fun, like free shirts!”

The trio saw a line of students forming near the left half of the stadium, then decided to jump in. Several minutes passed before they finally reached the ticket counter.

“Tickets?” the bored silvery blue rabbit at the counter asked. 

Bell pulled up the PDF on her phone. She flashed her phone to the rabbit.

“Alright, you three go ahead” he rang the tickets up.

The kids walked through the stadium entrance and followed the students towards the concession stands.

Several animals had booths set up to sell stadium food— salty buttery popcorn, crunchy nachos drowning in gooey cheese, fluffy pepperoni rolls, swirled cotton candy, and cold beer topped with a little foam. Other animals were setting up their own booths for overpriced merchandise. The chimera lifted his head up slightly to take a whiff of the confectionaries.

“Seats first?” Ponce asked his friends.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Toshi said.

The trio ran their way towards the student section, their bags bouncing against their backs. Bell pulled her phone out and read the tickets

“Huh. Row 2, seats D, E, and F. Neat!”

The children found the second row and sat on the cool metallic benches. The clock on the stadium billboard read ‘05:15’

The stadium filled up by the minutes. More animals came in and filled up the seats. 

The bell was deeply tolled in the air. A siren went off next.

The marching band eagerly played the booming first riffs of Crazy Train as the cheerleaders flipped their way onto the field while the color guard came running. The Buckskin mascot fired the first blank of the game and the crowd was roaring in excitement. The football players charged onto the field while the audience began to clap in excitement. 

“Let’s go Buckskins, let’s go!” the audience roared with several following claps. 

\----

2:25 PM

The bell chimed in the air. Lone Star vs. Monongahela finally reached halftime at 14-14. Most of the animals in the student section left for the concession stands. Bell, Ponce, and Toshi easily blended in with the crowd of students.

“I’ll be back!” Bell waved to Ponce and Toshi as she ran towards the womens’ restroom. The beaver shoved the door open and ran towards the first empty stall she saw. 

After Bell did her business, she walked towards the sink and quickly washed her hands with the generic soap on hand. The beaver turned to her left to see two animals on the bench and wrapped in each others’ arms. The grey and brown coyote didn’t notice anyone else as he was too busy thrusting into the white rabbit underneath him. 

Bell glared and cleared her throat at the duo.

“Professor Woodrow?!” the hyena growled in surprise. “What the-- what the hell are you doing here?!” he slurred in his words.

“Wait, that’s your professor, Kyle?!” the rabbit cried out. She pushed the hem of her dress down and tried to squirm out of his grip. 

“Yeah! She’s the, no, that’s the bitch who’s been failing me in fanfiction class!” Kyle barked with a slur. He picked up an empty beer bottle and threw it at Bell’s direction. She ducked as the glass shattered, then sprinted out of the bathroom like her life depended on it.  
She saw Ponce and Toshi carrying armloads of snacks and ran over to them.  
“Guys holy fuck!!!”

“Bell, what happened?!” Ponce asked her as he tried to balance the popcorn.

“A lot, Ponce!,” she tried to explain as she caught her breath. “This guy thinks I’m Klarisse, he’s saying _I_ failed him in my class, and I think he wants to kill me!”

“What do you _mean_ he wants to kill you?” Toshi asked. 

The trio heard someone panting heavily just behind Bell. 

“There you are, you bastard!” the canine snarled from the bathroom door. He shoved several animals out of his way as he stomped towards the children, the stomps of his combat boots echoing in the air. 

Kyle effortlessly shoved Ponce and Toshi out of his way. Their food spilled all over the floor, leaving everything sticky. The frothing canine yanked Bell by her throat. He screeched into his face as he shook her like a ragdoll

“You didn’t fucking, no, damnit, why the fuck am I failing your class!!!”

Bell growled as she tried to escape the hyena’s grip

“Let me go, asshole! I’m not your professor!”

She gritted her teeth and flailed her legs

The coyote’s eyes went cold and he snarled more

“I don’t give two shits about who you are!”

“What the fuck is your problem?!” Ponce hollered as he got up from the floor. The chimera felt like an erupting volcano. He felt himself forcibly restrained by his friend, kicking and flailing to try to escape with no avail.

“Ponce, please!” Toshi tried to calm him down. “We gotta try something else or he’ll rip our guts out!”

Kyle slammed Bell against the wall and hollered. The beaver winced as she felt her back against the hard brick.

“I spent forever on that paper and you just failed me like that?!” the coyote howled. “My paper was better than my dumbass classmates and you still gave a zero!”

Ponce and Toshi whispered to each other

“Quick, Toshi, what do most Mon Uni kids go crazy for?”  
“Alcohol?”  
“Yeah. We need to run over there and scream that there’s beer there”  
“Wait isn’t that gonna make more animals attack us?”  
“Don’t be ridiculous! We’re not the ones selling six dollar ale that tastes like it should be priced two dollars”

They ran towards one of the stadium booths and whistled loudly.

“Freeeeeee beeeeeer!” the ferret loudly called out. Several animals excitedly stormed over to the booth.

Kyle turned around to face the commotion.

“What the hell-”

This was her chance. Bell inched herself forward then sharply bit down on the coyote’s exposed wrist. 

The coyote howled in pain and dropped Bell before he grabbed the back of his paw.

“You little fucker!”

The beaver ducked underneath his legs then she sprinted to Ponce and Toshi. 

“Thanks guys!”

“No prob-” Ponce was about to say before he saw the crowd get bigger. Several animals were already pushing each other out of the way for the booth. Fuck.

“...lem” 

The trio sneaked their way through the rampage. Some animals accidentally spilled beer on the children while others were cussing each other out in the name of free alcohol. Jeez it felt like there were more animals at the game than the entire population of West Virginia!

Bell felt somebody grab her by the collar. She turned around to face the animal gripping her hood. Damnit, was this another one of Klarisse’s students?!

“Oh, hey Klarisse! We saved you guys some drinks” the snowy owl chirped. “Come on, the halftime show is always fun!”

“Oh, thanks!” Bell smiled a bit. Screw it, free drinks are nice.

“What row were y'all in again?”

“....Damnit” Ponce and Toshi thought to themselves as they facepalmed. 

Ten minutes later, the trio were sitting nearby the owl and his friends, each holding a cup of bubbly beer. Toshi cringed as he forced himself to sip at the disgustingly bitter ale. 

Meanwhile, Ponce had already made it through half the cup with ease.

“Chug it, fuckers!” a polar bear hollered to Ponce and Toshi.

“So yeah, Kyle tried to snap my neck over a damn paper. Not my fault he writes like a middle schooler!” Bell finished telling her story, earning a few laughs from the other animals around her. She chugged the last swig of beer immediately. 

The beaver heard a retching sound below her. Shit.

Toshi was cradling his stomach as he threw up all over the floor. Yellow and green bile splattered across the metal flooring, and his cheeks were a pale green. After the ferret finished puking up the hoppy drink he was forced to swallow, Ponce wiped his face clean and patted his back.

“....Sorry y’all, but I got stuff to take care of. I’ll see y'all in class Monday!” Bell blurted out to the college kids. She ran to Toshi’s side.

“You alright?” she asked him.

Toshi groaned and shook his head no. 

\-----

5:25 PM

Toshi was lying down on his side. The cold bedroom floor felt comforting against the running heater inside. He slowly sipped at some cool ginger ale.

“Hey, sorry about today, Toshi” Bell tried to reassure him. She was sitting on her bed and looking on Toshi's laptop for the first season of 89 Days Around the World. Damnit, must be a glitch in the system, she thought to herself.

“It’s fine” Toshi sighed in exhaustion. “I didn’t want to throw out a free drink in the first place”

“Hey don’t worry, I thought it tasted gross too!” Ponce gently patted his back. “Besides, next week is gonna be more fun”

“Wait what’s-- oh, right, the costume party” Toshi slightly perked up.

"Yeah. Tabitha said she's almost done with our costumes" Bell said as she brought up the photos. "All she needs to do now is sew on the accessories"


	15. I'm All Dressed Up, Nowhere to Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Halloween comes to the school despite the recent ban put in place. How will Bell and the aesthetic club pull it off?

October 25

12:02 PM

The school cafeteria was bustling with excitement. Some kids were drawing while others were talking about their Halloween plans. Meanwhile, at the aesthetic club table...

“So, what do you think?” Violet asked her friends as she showed them the personalized invitations she designed. They were a bright orange gradient with black spiderwebs in the corners and dripping black text reading “AESTHETIC CLUB’S HALLOWEEN EXTRAVAGANZA”

“Ooo!” Sandyna squealed as her eyes lit up. “I think they’re super totally adorable! Let’s send them out now! I wanna get some candy before the party too! And I will be super damned if I don't get all the peanut butter ones!”

“Hmm….” Tabitha squinted as she read the invitation. She chuckled a little “They’re good but I think you should put down _where_ the party is”

The cat went back to sewing two shiny golden buttons onto a black schoolboy cap. She stuck her tongue out as she focused on getting the right thread through the fabric.

Keira was in the middle of planning a rough draft for her next fanfiction-- a horror based 89 Days AU involving Cthulhu and plenty of tentacle sex. She looked up from her laptop.

“Yeah and try not to send it in the entire group chat, Violet” the rhino rolled her eyes. “Hell forbid Beatrice tries to _weasel_ her way in” she chuckled a little at her unintentional pun.

“Good idea” Leila pointed out. “Anyways, should we announce the party today or tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow,” Violet snarked with a cold bitter tone. “Since apparently my invitations aren’t good enough”

\----

1:15 PM

Violet was in the middle of redesigning her invitations. Study hall didn't give her anything else to do anyways.

“All students report to the auditorium, immediately” the voice boomed on the speakers. 

A collective groan echoed through the first and second floors as nearly all the students forced themselves down the hallways. Some animals tried to hide in the bathroom while several bird students flew out the windows.

“Are assemblies here really that bad?” Jennifer asked as she followed the crowd.

Leila nodded “They’re not torture level, Jen, just incredibly boring. Except for the pep rallies, those get pretty fun. Oh, by the way, some kids here get detention on purpose to not go to assemblies”

“Huh, detention you say” the donkey shrugged. “Maybe I should try that next time…”

The brown auditorium filled up quickly as dozens of animal children made their way towards the seating. The seats were made of worn down vinyl leather and several of them had questionable stains on the back. Some animals slumped in defeat while others pulled out their phones anyways.

A tall red cardinal in a blue polo shirt and beige khakis walked towards the stage podium. He cleared his throat and noticed none of the kids were paying attention to him. Fuck. 

He whistled loudly into the microphone, causing several animals to yelp.

“That’s better,” the bird said to himself. “Alright listen up, everyone”

One of the eighth graders threw a paper ball at him. It tumbled to the bottom of the wood podium.

“Alright, whoever threw that, just get your ass to detention right now” the cardinal deadpanned. 

The light grey rat snickered to himself then promptly left the auditorium without giving two fucks.

Most of the animals started to snicker afterwards.

“Yeah I know, haha Principal Cinnamon said a swear word” the cardinal was bitter. He facepalmed.

“But this assembly isn’t about that, this is about Halloween”

The crowd gasped then grew silent.

Cinnamon pulled up a powerpoint presentation labelled “SOUTHWEST MIDDLE HALLOWEEN BAN”.

“Because several of your parents complained to us **and** with death threats nonetheless, mostly to me, but death threats nonetheless, we’ve decided to ban Halloween this year” 

The entire student audience collectively groaned.

“I know, I know. Here’s what the complaints have said” he pulled up each slide. “If you kids start a fight with this, well, have fun!”

“Our kids have winter finals coming up yet you’re focused on childish shenanigans that should’ve been retired in elementary school!”  
“Halloween is becoming a mess of oversexualizing our girls while the boys get to have a normal childhood!”  
“It is completely speciesist to allow our children to dress up as another species. Bats and spiders aren’t costumes, we’re animals like you too!”  
“My kid can’t eat candy, and they’ll be upset if they’re left out”  
“If you hold Halloween, we’ll cut your nuts off and hang you in town square!”

Cinnamon flipped through several other slides and continued with his announcement

“So yes, unfortunately due to a certain few parents, Halloween celebrations will not be held this year. Students may not come to class in costume, hand out candy, host parties, or lead a rave in the cafeteria that turns into a manic orgy like last year. Now get back to class, all of you”

The cardinal dropped his microphone with a heavy screech.

Outside of the auditorium….

Tabitha madly sobbed near her locker. She buried her face into her elbow and felt mascara drip down her cheeks. Her eyes were puffy and her nose was wrinkled.

“I spent _weeks_ on all those costumes! And now they’re not FUCKING worth anything!” she wailed. 

“Awww, Tab” Leila tried to reassure her with a pat to the forearm. “We don’t have to get rid of them”

“Yeah” Keira joined in as she pulled up her phone. “We can still wear them! In fact, I have this plan I wrote during the whole assembly”

Meanwhile, at the other end of the hallway...

“Well congratulations for ruining the school yet again” Bell rolled her eyes as she saw Maya walk down the hall. She slammed the door of her locker as hard as she could.

“Me?” the poodle moth sharply gasped and she glared. “Oy vey, Bell, why would _I_ have anything to do with this ban?!”

“I don’t know Maya, maybe it’s because you run the paper?” Bell pointed out. 

The moth facepalmed with both her right hands

“Bell, please! I love Halloween as much as any other kid! Now look here”

She leaned in and whispered

“Don’t tell _anybody_ this, but I was actually going to post horror stories during Halloween week, but because of this bullshit that calls itself a ban, I have to write an opinion piece about this”

“Okay?” Bell tilted her head slightly. “I wasn’t going to tell anyone that anyways”

“Good!” Maya nodded. “Now if you excuse me, I have that major editorial piece to write. And let me know if you have any good stories to post”

\----

October 26

10:35 AM

Ponce, Toshi, and Benjamin were busy going over their grammar exercises. 

“So are we still going as the 89 Days guys?” Benjamin asked.

Toshi said as he rewrote a sentence to the active voice

“Yeah, we’ll still find a way to do it. Wait a minute, Benjamin, couldn’t we get your dad to sue the school?”

“That’d be awesome” the octopus sighed as he pulled the brim of his cap over his eyes. “But, he’s gonna be so busy with university lawsuits that we couldn’t get him here on time. Trust me, you can't outdrink a Mon Uni student but you can sue their hearts out”

"Stop quoting your dad's law commercials" Toshi facepalmed. 

“Oh” Ponce tapped his purple stylus pen against the desk. “Then how the hell are we gonna celebrate Halloween? We’re too old for trick or treating and too young to go out drinking”

\----

12:45 PM

Inside the aesthetic club room....

“Now, everyone,” Keira said as she tapped on the projector screen. “Friday is when we attack”

Minthe raised her hand 

“What are we attacking?” she softly asked.

The rhino went quiet for a minute before facepalming  
“....The school banned Halloween, remember, Minthe? Geez. Were you even at the assembly?”

“No, I was out sick yesterday. My lungs went kinda bad again” the seal shook her head. “What’s Halloween again?”

“It’s a holiday where us kids dress up in costumes and eat a lot of candy” Leila gently explained to her. “Somebody’s parents complained about it so we can’t have any fun here”

Keira harshly cleared her throat

“Anyways. Tabitha, what’s your part of the plan?”

“Well” Tabitha said as she finished stitching a red heart patch to some white cloth fabric. “We’re going to make detention our own party”

“Oooh! We’re getting rebellious! Hey maybe I can ask Joan about the detention room!” Sandyna giggled. Everyone else stared at her. “What, she’s in there all the time! Heehee!~”

“Good point!” Leila brought up. “If we find out from Jojo about the detention room beforehand, then the two of us can figure out how much snacks we can smuggle in”

“Yeah, but _why_ the detention room?” Violet asked. 

“Think about it” the dolphin reasoned. “Anyone caught celebrating Halloween is going straight to a whole day of detention, right?”

“Yeah, but if it’s only the five of us” the butterfly argued back. “It won’t be much of a party, it’ll just be like lunchtime.”

“That’s why we need Bell on our side!” Tabitha interrupted the two of them. 

“Oh yeah….” the two girls realized their potential. 

The cat got up and revised some of Keira’s plans.

“Think about THIS. She already has a lot of friends, right?” she explained as she drew some web diagrams on the screen. “And considering how many friends her friends have outside of her, we could get pretty much the entire school on our side with her influence!”

“Yeah but _how_?” Violet asked her.

Sandyna eagerly raised her paw. "Nya?"

\----

2:35 PM

Bell walked over to her locker and swung the door open. She was digging inside the grey space for her skateboard. Where the hell is it, she thought to herself.

“Yoooohooooo!!” someone called out to her. 

Huh?

The beaver turned around to see what the commotion was. Sandyna was skipping over to Bell, her colorful sunset tote bag flailing in the air.

“Heyy Bell!” the shiba inu twirled in her spot. “Soooo, we kinda need you to come over to Tabitha’s place today if you can!~”

“Sure?” Bell raised an eyebrow. “What’s this about?”

\----

3:05 PM

Sandyna dragged Bell down the hall before stopping at one of the doors. She knocked as loud as she could, the pounding sounds echoing down the infinite white halls.

The door creaked open

“Oh, there you two are” Tabitha greeted them. “Come on in!”

The two girls walked into the cozy apartment. Bell took a glance at all the decor-- indigo silk mat mee tapestries on the left door and walls, small ceramic elephants on the dining table, several Union Jack magnets on the fridge, and bright green fairy lights hanging from the right door. 

Bell reached down and took her shoes off, then put them on a nearby shoe rack.

“Oh, thank you Bell” Tabitha smiled a bit. She opened the right door and waited for the other two to walk inside.

Leila and Keira were sitting on the bed and reading their plans while Violet was laying on the floor and drinking a cup of lychee juice.

“Bell!” They all waved to her. 

“Hey y’all” Bell said as she tiptoed over the piles of clothes on the floor. She sat down on the white regal chair, making sure her tail wouldn’t get caught between the wide gaps.

“Let’s cut to the chase. What did y’all invite me for?”

Tabitha closed the door after Sandyna scurried inside. She watched as Sandyna belly flopped onto the pile of decorative sequin pillows. 

“Well, Bell, it’s about the school’s ridiculous Halloween ban” Tabitha explained to her as she paced to the sewing machine near the corner. “Also you’re sitting on my hat”

“Oh!” the beaver got up, moved the green floral hat onto the white cluttered desk, and sat back down. “So what do y'all five need me to do about the ban?”

“Well, on Friday” Leila interrupted the two of them. “We’re gonna come into school in costume anyways”

“Yeah! We were gonna have this super awesome Halloween party-- you were gonna be invited by the way-- but now we can’t because SOMEBODY’S parents complained about it!” the shiba inu pouted and crossed her arms as she ranted. “I was gonna be Helios! Like the Greco Roman statue, with the toga and even a leaf crown and--”

“Sandyna!” Keira snapped and clamped Sandyna’s mouth shut. “As we were _saying_ , the five of us alone can’t overthrow the school’s oppressive rules, so we need you to come with us on Friday in costume. If you’re part of this, then we’ll get most of the school by our side without trying”

“A Halloween party? Well why didn’t y'all say so?” Bell’s eyes lit up and clasped her hands. “I’ll tell the hockey team!”

“Hey there’s a start” Violet joined in. “Just don’t tell fucking Maya”

“Oh, well, she actually likes Halloween” the beaver said as she stretched a bit. “I kinda made a deal with her a few weeks ago”

Keira gasped “You’re kidding?”

Bell shook her head  
“Nope, not kidding. We had to get Becky on our side first”

"The eagle?" Keira asked. 

\----

October 27

12:10 PM

Bell walked over to the lunch table with a brown box. She set it down in the middle for her friends to see.

Ponce eagerly ripped open the brown cardboard and pulled one of the costumes out. The fabric felt soft to the touch yet sturdy enough to not tear easily. 

“Wait a minute” Toshi said as he pulled out the green schoolboy uniform. “I know we all paid Tabitha for these in advance, but where are we going to wear these?”

“To school tomorrow!” Bell tugged on Toshi’s scarf and pulled him closer to her face. “We’re gonna do something about the stupid Halloween ban. The aesthetic club told me to get as many animals as possible to pull it off”

“Well” Benjamin tapped his tentacles on the table. “I think I could get the government club involved! But I need some payment first…”

“Here!” Bell handed him a pack of caramel chocolates. He ripped them open and tore right into the gooey decadent goodness.

“And I know the international club will be interested,” Toshi said. “We could bring in some candy from around the world. Ever tried pocky?”

Ponce eagerly slammed his fist on the table  
“And I’ll get Chris and Aster on board!”

\----

October 28

9:10 AM

The aesthetic club officers were sitting outside the middle school building while in costume. Tabitha was wearing a long white wedding dress with red blood splattered on the left side, and a shredded veil atop her head. Violet felt cozy in a puffy brown jacket, matching pants, tall lace up boots, an ushanka, a long white scarf, and olive goggles. Leila adorned a short sleeved white puffy dress with angel wings, a heart print sash, shiny boots, and a heart shaped arrow. Sandyna was wearing a bedsheet toga over a white romper, along with a crown of white leaves adorning her head. Keira had her hair in two low braids and was dressed up in a black dress with a white peter pan collar, thick black tights, and white ankle boots. 

“Jeez, where is everybody?” Keira asked everyone.

Tabitha was fixing her makeup to look messier 

“Probably taking their sweet ol time getting ready”

“Hey! Hey! Look!” Sandyna shook Leila by the shoulders. “There’s more kids coming! Ooooh and they followed through too!~”

A crowd began to gather nearby the school, all in costume. 

Jamie and Maya were dressed in deerstalker hats and long beige trench coats. Chris rocked green combat fatigues while Aster adorned a blue and white classical sailor uniform with the matching hat. Joan was dressed as a red oni, complete with teal hair dye and a grey zipup hoodie. Tobias was confident in a ripped sleeveless white karate uniform complete with a red headband, a black belt, and red fingerless gloves. 

More animals swarmed their way to the outside field. Some were dressed in typical Halloween fare-- zombies, ghosts, witches, while others dressed as their favorite anime, television, or video game characters. One animal was even wearing a white shirt with a black tie and three black dots on their right side. 

Thomas and Kevin, both dressed in sunglasses and black tuxedos, snuck away to change the sign from “LUNCH TODAY IS RIBS WITH BONE BROTH FRESH NOODLES AND MIXED VEGETABLES” to “BEAT IT- OUR BROTHEL IS CLOSED”

“Hey look!” Tobias hollered as he pointed at the roof.

Four figures covered head to toe in white sheets dramatically leaped from the roof and landed on their feet. The crowd grew silent. The four figures grabbed their sheets and ripped them off themselves, tossing them to the side without care.

The crowd roared with intensity and applauded the performance. Hey!

Bell shoved one hand into her pocket and pointed her other hand into the air. She was wearing a torn up black school uniform with a matching black hat-- the same one Tabitha was sewing earlier in the week. Her orange and pink hair flowed wildly in the cool October air, and her gold accessories shined brightly in the sun.

Ponce struck a triumphant pose with one leg in front of the other and his hands above his head, the tips of his fingers barely touching. He was wearing a black tank top with only one strap, white baggy pants, shiny black boots, and broken red earrings swinging from his ears. 

Toshi stuck his hips to the side and smirked as his green schoolboy uniform’s coat flowed in the air. His shiny pink round earrings were dangling against his shoulders. His long fluffy tail curled around Bell’s right leg.

And Benjamin confidently raised his four arms, each tentacle pointing up in the air. He had on a white headband, a beige sleeveless shirt, matching beige sweats, baggy brown slip on boots, and a long red robe swaying in the wind. His orange scarf and gold necklace stayed put despite the growing winds. 

“Thank you, thank y’all!” Bell bowed after everyone’s posing session.

The aesthetic club ran up to the group. 

“Bell! That was-- wow that was just amazing” Tabitha gushed a bit. “Anyways, let’s do this!”

Bell hollered to everyone  
“For Halloween!”

“For Halloween!!!” the crowd roared back as they swarmed closer to the entrance.

Bell stepped forward and swung the doors wide open. All the middle schoolers crammed their way through the doors and toward the vast hallways with burning eagerness. Some kids ran towards their lockers while others sprinted to their homeroom. Carnegie and Ander snuck away from everyone else and towards the boiler room. 

Minutes had passed and everyone finally made it to their homeroom.

Ellie Linon walked through the door and sat down at her desk. The dog took a good look at everyone in the class. Huh.

“....What the hell are you kids doing?” she asked as she sipped some electrolyte water. 

The kids looked at each other. Their hearts were racing. Fuck, did anyone even come up with an excuse?!

“Fuck it, it’s Friday” the bulldog shrugged. “Just hang out I guess while I take attendance”

The speakers crackled throughout every area of the middle school.

“Uh, attention, all students” the principal cleared his throat before continuing. “As you all know, Halloween celebrations of any kind are _supposed_ to be banned. However we got an anonymous tip-off that the entire student body had come into school costumed. Thanks for all the death threats I’m going to get in the next week! But anyways, if you did come into costume, first of all, what the fuck?”

Laughter roared and echoed through the entire middle school.

“And second, please report to the detention room immediately”

Nearly all the students groaned.

Thirty minutes later, the detention room on the upper floor was packed like canned sardines with restless eighth graders. One of the teachers, a tall purple king cobra, slithered his way to the outside of the door and placed a chair underneath the doorknob. He left back towards the teacher’s room, not looking back.

The middle schoolers all looked at each other. The room suffocated them like a garter snake killing its prey. 

“So is this the manic orgy the principal was talking about?” one of the eighth graders, a grey ferret with wavy red hair, blurted out.  
“Because I am _not_ feeling it”

“Shut the fuck up Angus!” another eighth grader, a fluffy white spider in a maid dress, yelled back. “If our parents didn’t bitch about Halloween then we wouldn’t be in this shithole of a detention room!”

“Oh look who's talking, Bianca!” Ander scoffed. “ _Your_ parents are the ones who said dressing up like another animal is speciesist!”

"Hey, I'm not the one who threw paper at the principal, dickhead!" Bianca argued back.

Meanwhile, on the lower floor….

Nearly all the sixth graders were moved to the library instead like a herd of cattle. The cobra repeated his earlier strategy with the chair under the doorknob. With no teachers around to control the situation…

The students cheered in celebration before ripping their school bags open. Sandyna eagerly tossed candy through the air while Joan set up some speakers made of cardboard tubes and red solo cups. 

She put her phone into the speakers and blasted some Halloween themed music.

"Walkin with a dead man over my shoulder..."

Tabitha and Violet grabbed one of the tables then began to lay out all sorts of colorful snacks-- fluffy popcorn balls, gooey caramel nougat candy, colorful juice boxes, etc.

“Now just wait a minute,” Leila said. “Who _was_ the anonymous tipoff?” 

Joan paused the music with a click.

Everyone looked around at each other

“Did any of y'all notice Robby ain't here?” Bell pointed out. “It isn’t like him to skip out a detention party y’all” 

“He could just be skipping school,” Benjamin brought up.

Chris shook his head  
“ _I’m_ the one that regularly cuts class, Robby is the one who broke his leg over a hunk of rock”

“Then who the hell could it be?” Bell asked.

The crowd glanced over at Maya. She shook her head

“Oy, I like Halloween as much as anyone else” she nibbled on one of the small maple macarons before yelling back. “If you ask me, since those Nerudas aren’t here, I bet it was Beatrice who gave the tipoff!” 

The kids started to argue amongst each other. 

\----

Meanwhile, in the principal’s office…

“Finally, a day off” the cardinal said as he pulled up his favorite novel on his laptop.

Principal Cinnamon was sitting at his desk and reading a heart wrenching story about mice fleeing Eastern European from the oppressive cat regime. His feet were on his desk, and he didn’t look up as he heard a knock on the door.

“I’m _busy_ ” he called out. 

The door swung wide open anyways. Joseph Canadendrum waltzed into the room. His annoyed golden retriever assistant tagged along.

  
“Well, hellooooo Cinnamon!” he sung.

The cardinal facepalmed and set his tablet down.

“Can I _help_ you, mayor?” Cinnamon bitterly asked him.

“Yeah, I kinda have a little favor to ask you” Joseph looked away as he pointed his two index fingers together. “Can I ask for a DNA test from your students?”

“Let me guess--” the bird tried to ask before he was interrupted.

“Why yes it is about the illegitimate child scandal! I finally finished all four of the high schools, only three kids so far, and I think I might have a couple kids in the middle schools too!” Joseph went on. “Please, my good sir, it is the mayor's orders after all!”

“....Dare I ask, how many women have you--” Cinnamon tried to ask before being forcefully interrupted.

“Fifty five! It’s a surprise I still have a wife after all” Joseph joyfully chuckled. “But goodness I wouldn’t have that many children! I’m just a beaver, not a rascally rabbit!”

“...We’ll make sure to compensate the school,” the golden retriever tried to reassure him. “How does five thousand dollars sound?”

“Fine” Cinnamon shook his paw. “That’s more budget than the state gives me anyways” he muttered to himself.   
——


	16. Falling on my Head Like a Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang tries to handle the fall break flood.

November 15

1:15 PM

Just what the heck is going on at Southwest Pondovadia Middle School today...

Dozens of animals patiently waited in line throughout the hallways. Some kids were reading informational pamphlets online while others were chatting with one another. A few animals were even trying to sneak out underground.

“Next!” a voice called from the gymnasium. “I said, next!”

Two other animals walked inside the school gym. Instead of the bleachers or sports equipment, there were several testing sites set up. Several adult animals were wearing masks and gloves, waiting on the next child to take their seat. 

“Species?” the animal at front, an auburn chipmunk in a blue uniform, asked. She rapidly took notes of how many kids were left to go and their species.

One of the eighth graders, a fluffy cream and black pup with tiny wings, prominent fangs, and feathery red hair, replied “Chimera?”

“Station three.” the chipmunk said as she added another tally to the ‘chimera’ list. 

Some animals had blood samples taken while others used saliva or strands of fur, feathers or scales. The adults tried to make small talk with some of their patients, but to no avail.

“Species?” the chipmunk asked as the next animal walked up to the check-in table.

“I don’t _have_ to tell you what species I am” Beatrice shook her head as she crossed her arms. “ _My_ parents didn’t give me permission to do this DNA test” 

Robby yelled from one of the stations. He had his arm out for a small blood test  
“Actually y’all, my ma and pa said we could both do this here test!”

“So a mongoose, then” the chipmunk clerk noted. “Station five then”

Beatrice rolled her eyes as she dragged herself to the fifth station. She sat down and rolled her shirt sleeve up. If she got a single drop of blood anywhere on herself from this stupid shot...

“Just do this stupid test and get it over with” she barked at the exhausted king salmon worker. "My parents' tax money isn't paying you to screw around, you know"

Outside the gymnasium…

“I’m not sure what the point of DNA testing everybody is if the mayor’s a beaver,” Toshi shrugged.

“Well" Bell brought up. “ I think it's because some animals do have surprise chimera DNA in them from a distant ancestor”

“That still doesn’t make sense” Toshi shook his head. “Shouldn’t they be only testing animals with beaver DNA then?”

“Yeah but not everyone looks exactly like their biological species” Bell pointed out. "Isn't that right, Ponce?"

“Yeah, you’d be surprised at how chimeras like me can look” Ponce joined in. “Hell sometimes we can pass as just one species. But even after all the DNA tests, us chimeras are still better off in Pondovadia than anywhere else in West Virginia”

\----

November 16

3:45 PM

Klarisse was in the middle of packing her bags. She heard Bell walk through the door.

“Should I pack up too?” Bell asked her.

The older girl shook her head  
“No, Bell, you don’t need to. I’m just going to Oakland for a few days”

“But I thought mom and dad didn’t want us there,” Bell pointed out.

Klarisse packed another cardigan into her clothes bag. 

“Yeah, I know. But it’s fall break for me, and I want to see my favorite cousins” she said as she threw in some sweats. “And besides, it’s _Vincent_ ’s side of the family I’m seeing this week. They’d be pissed off at me if you came along”

“Wait, but Klarisse!” Bell asked. “Where am I gonna stay then?”

“Well you could just stay with your friends. I trust their parents well enough” Klarisse told her as she snuck some vodka miniatures into the pockets of her luggage bag. “Look, Bell, I’ll text you if anything goes wrong, okay”

“Alright” Bell nodded. Geez, what a way to spend fall break. Well at least she won't be alone.

\---

November 17 

10:30 AM

Bell, Ponce, and Toshi were looking out the window. They watched as trees violently shook in the wind. Garbage swirled around the cloudy grey skies. A blue and white helicopter flew around the air. The sky was a disgusting grey shade and the sun was nowhere to be seen.

“Now what.” Bell groaned. 

Toshi turned his tv on and pulled up a streaming service.

“Well there’s some new 89 Days episodes out” he turned around to pull up season 3. 

“Awesome” Ponce said as he flopped back on the blue bean bag. “Are they finally gonna reveal who stabbed Tenaki in the guts?”

“Well I think it was Ignacious after he betrayed the group over a girl” Toshi said as he pulled up one of the episodes. 

“No way, Ignacious would never do THAT! Although, he has been pretty out of character lately,” Bell argued. She grabbed an energy drink off the floor and cracked it open. “Then again I heard a rumor the actor might be quitting after this season so he’s half-assing the whole thing”

And then their phones buzzed. Their screens read “NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALERT”

Toshi picked his phone up and swiped to answer the call. Bell and Ponce leaned in to hear better. They cringed from the ear grating sound echoing through the bedroom. Finally, it faded away and was replaced with a cold automated voice. 

“THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING UNTIL ELEVEN THIRTY PM WEDNESDAY FOR THE FOLLOWING WEST VIRGINIA COUNTIES: BLUERIDGE, HUNDLEY, MONONGAHELA”

“Yikes” Ponce cringed.

The automated voice continued

“ALL RESIDENTS ARE ADVISED TO STAY IN PLACE UNTIL THE ADVISORY EFFECT IS OVER”

The voice finally faded away.

“So, now what?” Bell asked.

Toshi went back to the TV.

“Might as well watch the new episodes”

He started up one of the new 89 Days episodes; ‘Tenaki’s Farewell Part 1 of 3’

"Ugh, I hate when the title spoils the whole plot" Toshi snarked before starting up the stream.

——

Tenaki: You- YOU absolute bastard. Was this the work of your ghostly ripple?

????: Yes. The power of my Sunny Philadelphia is very simple. It uses the power of the sun to fatally wound whoever I please, nyohoho ho!

Kyutarou: Good grief just who the hell are you?

????: Me? Well, I…

-the user reveals himself-

Diver: I’m the one and only holy Diver! You fools walked into my trap like a hipster to an overpriced vinyl record store! Kyutarou Kyujou, it took you eighty nine days to get to your death.

Kyutarou: No, it took _you_ eighty nine days to die. Mystery Science!

Macherie: Twilight Zone!

Sahir: Deep Space Nine!

——

The television crackled and the lights flickered before the room’s power swept away like a plastic bag in a tornado.

“Fuck!” Bell yelled as she stumbled around for her phone. “Now when are we gonna see how the fight goes?”

Ponce looked outside the window. He watched as several other buildings flickered in and out before shutting down.

“Well at least we’re not the only ones in a blackout”

Toshi grabbed a black flashlight from his closet and turned it on.

“Yeah but” he said. “Where the hell _are_ we going now?”

“The apartment across from us?” Bell snorted as she rolled her eyes.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Bell” Toshi chastised her as he put on his green windbreaker

“We’re going to find shelter first”

“Alright”

Bell carelessly shoved her belongings into her backpack. She threw on her loose orange and pink striped raincoat.

“Good idea,” Ponce said as he lifted up his own backpack. He adjusted it so the straps weren’t tangled in his purple raincoat.

The trio sneaked out of the vacant apartment and dashed down the empty stairs. The staircase grew colder by the minute as they made their way to the ground floor.

Bell, Ponce, and Toshi glanced around the room. All the furniture was in place, from the reception desk to the houseplant on the side table. Some of the furniture had a light coating of dust while others shined in the sun.

“I don’t know guys, I think this looks like decent shelter” Bell leaned in and wiped a trail of dust off the desk with her finger. “Ground floor is pretty stable”

Thunder crackled outside then faded away.

Ponce looked out the window.

“Hey look, the weather calmed down”

“It’s probably just for a few minutes,” Toshi pointed out.

“Well if we make it out now” Ponce explained to them. “we could find a decent shelter without getting trashed”

“Good point!” Bell said as she walked to the door. “Come on, y’all!”

Ponce and Toshi looked at each other. Fuck it. They followed Bell to the door.

The trio eagerly dashed outside the apartment complex. The air was cool and unmoving. Trash was scattered across the road and sidewalk. Not a single animal was outside and some of the garbage cans were lying on their sides.

“Which way?” Toshi asked Bell.

Bell pointed to her left

“There’s a bunker there”

The children headed left as the rain started again. It was a light shower that barely got in their faces. 

Ponce put on his hood and looked around

“Hey, there it is” he pointed at a grey door on the pavement.

The trio got on their knees and forcibly opened the concrete slab. They shoved the concrete away then climbed down the ladder leading to the bunker.

Bell took a good look around at her surroundings.

The walls were barren and grey while the floor was black with a few dried leaves scattered throughout. There were a few shelves on the left side filled with plywood, plastic tarp, some PVC tubes, and a toolbox. A lightbulb was flickering from the ceiling, and some animal bones were shoved in the corner.

Toshi opened some plastic boxes

“No food in an abandoned bunker? What a surprise” he rolled his eyes.

Ponce ripped open the toolbox

“Yeah but we won’t have to stay here” he pulled out a cordless drill and a screwdriver. “We could make a raft!”

“Wait, why?” Bell asked as she took a good look at the tarp.

“Think about it! When it starts raining, we can take our raft down the streets and find a better shelter” Ponce explained.

Toshi shrugged

“Hm. Fuck it, let’s give it a try. But I don’t know how to handle these tools”

Everyone looked at each other. Oh fuck, right. Shop class isn't available until eighth grade. And that’s where the real tools are at.

Bell checked her phone before putting it back into her backpack

“Well, the cell towers got knocked out, so we have to wing it”

Ponce arranged some of the tubes into a square.

Toshi nodded and tied them together with the plastic tarp he ripped up. Bell reached for the wooden slabs.

“Should I drill these on or keep them still?” she asked her friends.

Ponce got up and grabbed the drill

“Keep them still, Bell. I’ll do the drilling” he then chuckled from what he said. Bell got on all fours to keep the wood stable.

Toshi felt some drops of rain hit his head

“Well hurry up, you two, I think the storm’s starting again”

“We’re trying!” Bell yelled back as she watched Ponce drill the wood to the base. 

Ponce wiped the sweat off his forehead after he finished drilling. He turned the drill off and put it away. 

“Perfect,” Toshi said as he examined the raft. It was big enough for three animals yet small enough to fit through the hole.

Bell climbed off the raft and looked up at the opening.

“I’ll get the first half, Ponce, Toshi, you can get the other half”

“Sure” Toshi walked to where Ponce was. The two boys lifted up the back of the raft while Bell grabbed the front. They made their way through the bunker and towards the ladder.

“Do we carry it like a mattress or a painting?” Ponce hollered.

Bell looked at the ladder. She yelled back

“Painting in the bunker, mattress out of the bunker”

“Got it!” Ponce gave a thumbs up.

The trio navigated their newly made raft upwards, then turned it around as they made it to the streets. Toshi pushed the entrance slab back in place as Bell and Ponce climbed onto the raft.

Rain was still pouring. Toshi made his way onto the raft as well.

The cold and unforgiving water started to rise inch by inch. The children gasped as their raft started to float above the water.

Bell leaned over to watch the sidewalk gradually disappear underwater. She got back up and found a comfortable position to sit.

“At least it works” she smiled a bit.

“......We forgot a sail, Bell” Toshi facepalmed. “But it’s fine. We’ll float this storm out”

“And if we need food” Ponce yanked something from the thickening water. It was a stray sea livestock around the size of two smartphones stacked together. He snapped its neck and placed it on the center of the raft. “We got sashimi!”

“I mean, we are animals so” Bell ripped its stomach open with her teeth. Blood splattered on her cheeks and she spat out a gallbladder onto the raft. “Who wants the organs?”

“I’ll take them” Toshi pulled the organs out and swallowed them whole. He shuddered from the slimy texture and bitter taste. The things he does for Bell…

Ponce yanked a few more scaled livestock from the flooding waters. He snapped their necks one by one and threw them in the middle. 

The trio eagerly devoured their catches. They spit the bones out into the water. Blood dribbled down their chins. They floated down the streets, looking at the endless skyscrapers before their eyes. Rain was still pounding without mercy. 

Eventually, they fell asleep after their fishy feast, the rain now relaxing instead of ruthless...

——

2:45 PM

Bell woke up after her quick nap. She yawned and noticed that Ponce and Toshi were still fast asleep.

She looked over at her surroundings— yep, still in a Pondovadia flood. The beaver checked her phone again— battery at 80% but no cell service or internet. Fuck. She watched the flowing water. It was littered with dried leaves, broken tree branches, plastic bags, and greasy takeout boxes. The sky was still cold and dark and she didn't see any other rafts for miles on end.

Bell nudged her friends on the shoulders. "Pssst, Toshi...."

Toshi woke up and groaned

“What is it?”

“Just look!” Bell pointed away from the raft.

The two boys looked around at the carnage below the safety of their raft: broken streetlights, tree branches, artifacts from Lake of the Unknown Knotts. Jeez, was that a corpse?! The kids watched a bloated animal float down the rest of the carnage. A whale, perhaps? No, had to be a narwhal. It clearly looked aquatic, but the skin screamed 'aquatic mammal'. 

“Nasty” Toshi groaned as he scooted back to the middle of the raft.

Ponce shook his head

“Look at the bright side…..wait, what am I saying, there is no bright side.”

A silent wave of whitewater thrashed between the buildings. The children screamed and held onto the raft as it was drenched by the raging wave.

The trio coughed and sputtered out the muddy water after they got soaked

“Good grief” Toshi groaned after he spat out the last bit of muddy water.

Bell looked up

“Hey y’all! Look!”

A helicopter was humming in the skies below. It was blue and white and had the Mon Uni logo plastered near the tail end.

Ponce and Toshi got up and began waving to the helicopter. Bell was screaming and jumping up and down.

The helicopter slowly descended. A black rope ladder was thrown out of the door and dangled in the wind. 

The kids grabbed the ropes and scaled up towards safety. They began coughing once they finally made it on board. The trio sat down on some seating, not caring about how damp the cushions would get.

“You kids are gonna be fine” a black and white striped angelfish reassured them. She grabbed some blankets and wrapped the trio up in them.

“Thank- thank you” Ponce shivered as he curled up in a ball.

“You’re welcome” the angelfish said as she pulled the rope back up. She hollered to the pilot

“Any other refugees?!”

The pilot, a pale white albatross, yelled back

“None as far as I can see, Christie”

“Keep looking, Brian!” Christie said. “We’re not off our shift until nine!”

The trio fell asleep again, dozing away in the afternoon.

——

November 18

7:50 AM

Bell and her friends crowded around the television in the Mon Uni hospital lobby. They were wearing blue hospital gownss and bundled up in fluffy blue blankets. They kept themselves warm by drinking hot cocoa provided by the hospital. 

—

“And it looks like the storm is moving upwards into Steelavadia, Pennsylvania” the weather animal, a rooster, droned on. “Unfortunately for us we suffered the brunt of it so Pennsylvania only gets a light drizzle for the next few days. Back to you, Lonny”

“Thanks Ken” the axolotl said to him. “In other news, Governor Stonewall has declared a state of emergency for the rest of West Virginia. Residents are encouraged not to travel in or out of West Virginia for at least five days. Also Mayor Canadendrum has requested help from the Red Cross. We also have word that twelve animals are confirmed dead, all of which were inmates at Pondovadia Maximum Correctional Center. This is because the guards and facility had time to escape while the inmates were left to die. However we do expect the death toll to rise beyond just the inmates”

—-

“Do you kids need a laptop?” one of the animals behind the counter asked.

“Sure” Ponce nodded.

The animal behind the counter, a praying mantis, walked over to another floor, while the trio continued watching the news.

—

“Well unfortunately the death toll has risen” Lonny checked. “We have word that— yes, City Council Head Charles Morrigan has lost his wife Maybelle to the flood. Upon Morrigan’s request, all Pondovadia flags will be at half mast beginning Friday, and her memorial service will be on Saturday for any local animal interested in honoring her life.”

—

The praying mantis handed Ponce a laptop then went back to the desk. She continued filing medical records on her computer.

The chimera turned on the laptop and logged into his school email. He clicked the first one—

“ATTENTION STUDENTS, STAFF AND FACULTY: ALL* PONDOVADIA SCHOOLS ARE TO BE CLOSED FOR TWO WEEKS FOLLOWING THE FLOOD AND CELL TOWERS KNOCKED OUT. CLASSES WILL BE MADE UP IN THE NEXT SEMESTER AND STUDENTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO FOCUS ON THEIR PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH FIRST"

*Note: except all grade levels in Allegory Academy, who will resume their regular activities”

“Well at least we get two weeks off” Bell pointed out as she read the screen.

Toshi was looking at well

“Yeah. Every school in the city but Allegory Academy…What the hell happened there?”

—-

Meanwhile, inside the mayor's office…

“Why should I have to close my school down!” the brown jackalope barked at his computer. "All of my students will be extremely behind in their studies!"

Joseph Canadendrum shook his head as he adjusted the audio on his virtual call

“Sir, it’s my order, and we have a state emergency right now. Don’t you care about your staff and students, Principal Manteau?”

Manteau facepalmed and lashed out

“I run a private academy you buck toothed himbo bastard! I don’t have to obey public school laws!”

Joseph wrinkled his nose and wanted to explode. He slammed his hand against the table

“Hey, you listen here _Portland_. If you don’t shut your school down, I’ll have to reduce your funds for an entire year. It’s your choice, Mr. Manteau. Two weeks of no school, or two decades worth of child sized coffins. The students can make up their assignments later next semester, but they can't make up their lives.”

“.....Oh fuck you!” Manteau ranted. “That’s the problem with you commoners! You always think we’re the bad guys! You know what? This is why we need a mythical for our mayor in charge of this hell hole of a city”

The jackalope angrily hung up. He ranted to himself

“Fuckin asshole tries to tell me how to run my school when he can’t even run his own marriage without making a bunch of bastard kids like he’s a fucking Lannister”

“Well if he wants to kill his students, that’s his own problem” Joseph huffed to himself.

“Sir, SIR!” his golden retriever aide hollered. “We have a problem!”

Joseph turned around

“Yes, what is it Jonesy?”

Jonesy put down his laptop

“Three of the DNA tests from the middle schools…. they’re positive”

“ _Which_ middle schools?” Joseph leaned in. 

“Two in Northeast and one in Southwest” Jonesy confirmed the data. “Apparently the Northeast cases are twins and the Southwest one is the first girl”

“Let me see that…” the beaver opened the laptop and flipped through the results. “...Huh. Should we contact them soon?”

“No, don’t be ridiculous sir” Jonesy shook his head. “We still have the flood crisis on hand, Maybelle's memorial service AND the upcoming election. You can wait a few weeks to meet your children”

  
"If you insist, Jonesy" Joseph coldly nodded. "I really hope Charles won't go too insane from his terrible loss"

\----

At the memorial service...

Charles Morrigan was curled up in his chair. His eyes were soaked with tears and he felt like a sack of green potatoes. His black suit had a small white rhododendron tucked in the left part of his jacket. The black bear forced himself to walk up to the podium. He placed a large paw on the delicate tartan urn on display. The other animals silently watched.

"Th..th.." he stammered between choking sobs. "Thank you all for coming....I don't know why did it have to be Maybelle...." He turned to the urn next to him.

"I loved you, my sweet Maybelle. You did everything you could for our beloved Frederick...It's hard to believe it came to this. I guess the only thing that could stop the wrath of a mother bear was an endless storm or someone who wanted to make my son and I suffer..."


	17. Better Run, Better Do What you Can

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bell and the gang go to celebrate Toshi's birthday, but their murder mystery dinner goes wrong.

December 12

5:00 PM

School finals dominated the last few weeks, and now the sixth graders were free to do as they please, for a month and a half at least.

Bell, Ponce and Toshi walked down the quiet winter streets with cups of hot chocolate in their hands. The streetlights were decorated with holly leaves and silver tinsel. Snow was light and dusting the air.

“Any idea on what to do for your birthday?” Ponce asked his friend.

Toshi shook his head

“No, not yet.”

He sipped from his green cup. The hot chocolate was sweet and creamy.

The trio stopped at a streetlight with a digital banner installed. Bell scrolled through the ads.

“Missing guitar, no” she murmured to herself. “Crowdfunding for the Aqualung Park, no. Hot and single Russian milfs, ugh no thanks. Hey, look y’all! Murder mystery!”

Ponce and Toshi leaned in to read the virtual flyer. 

Bell kept reading

“Come join the Challengers’ Radical Special Nineteen Eighties Murder Mystery Dinner. A five course meal turns deadly after the murder of a fellow passenger. Great for birthdays. Hey what do you think, Toshi?”

Toshi looked

“I think it looks fun! But there’s just _one_ problem”

He pointed at a small block of text and zoomed in.

“Must be eighteen or over to join”

Ponce groaned

“We need fake IDs to get in”

“Yeah, but _who_ are we gonna get them from?” Toshi asked back.

“I have an idea….” Bell pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts. She found Chris’s number and dialed him up.

The phone rang.

“Oh, hi Bell!” the voice on the line was higher pitched than usual.

“Aster?” Bell asked him with a chuckle. “You forgot to put us on speaker again”

“Oops, sorry” Aster realized what he did. He then put everyone on speaker.

“So, buds, what do you need?” Chris asked the trio.

“You still have your mom’s printer, right?” Ponce threw his empty cup in the trash can then tried to warm up his hands.

“Yeah, what’s up?” the porcupine was curious now.

“We need fake IDs” Toshi said to him. “And no, it’s not to sneak into one of the Mon Uni bars. It’s for a murder mystery dinner, for my birthday”

Chris tapped his fingers against the desk of his bedroom. “Oh! We’ll do it for you guys, sure, but my mom spent good money on this printer so this won’t be free”

“Yep” Aster joined in. “If you three could get me some film, and Chris a new beanie, then we’ll get your IDs ready”

“Sure thing” Bell said as she drummed her fingers against the streetlight. “I’ll see y’all tomorrow”

—-

December 13

10:35 AM

“Are y’all sure this is it?” Bell asked as the trio got on the elevator.

Ponce nodded and pressed a button.

“Yep. This is the place!”

“I don’t get why they couldn’t get this stuff themselves” Toshi was still carrying the white paper bag in his arms.

The elevator dinged as it reached the sixth floor

“It’s gonna be fine,” Ponce reassured him. 

The children left the elevator and made their way to apartment nine. Ponce walked up and knocked loudly on the door.

A white and cream porcupine was on the phone inside. She was ranting her head off as she opened the door

“Look here you asshole! Stop calling me about the damn Fantasy Party. I’m a motherfucking porcupine you damn crackhead. Why would I vote for a bunch of selfish douchebag mythicals who want to take over West Virginia for their own kind! Yes I KNOW there’s an election coming up, but I don’t give two shits about how many illegitimate children Mayor Canadendrum has! He’s still a good mayor! Now go shove your campaign up your ass!”

She hung up. Aw shit, there’s children in front of her. Her face was a little red.

“Oh, hi Mrs. Rothschild!” Bell waved to her.

“Oh, hello you three” Mrs. Rothschild was still red. “The boys are in the left bedroom”

“Thanks!” Ponce said as he walked inside with the bag of goodies.

Bell and Toshi followed suit into the little apartment. The place had an Appalachian charm— dark oak furniture, sugar maple print blankets and golden delicious apple throw pillows, a Mon Uni bouquet on the table. It smelled comforting, like baking bread.

Bell knocked on the left door.

Chris opened the door for her.

“Hey guys, come on in!”

The trio walked into Chris’s bedroom. The room was surprisingly clean— red tartan blankets folded neatly, an office chair tucked under the desk, framed parkour posters on the wall.

“Here’s the stuff” Ponce handed Chris the bag. “Film and a beanie”

“Hey thanks!” Chris opened the bag and placed the goods on his bed. “We’ll have these IDs ready in a bit.”

Thirty minutes later…

“Here you go!” Aster plucked the IDs from the printer and handed them over. “I hope 21’s a good number”

“It’s great” Toshi looked at the ID cards— nice and shiny just how they should be.

The pup asked his friends

“Do you guys want a Mon Uni one too or?”

“No, it’s fine” Bell shook her head as she slid the ID into her wallet. “but thank you!”

—-

December 14

1:00 PM

Toshi and his friends made it to Retro Ann’s Tiques. They dashed down the aisles and raided the clothes racks.

Ponce pulled out an extravagant purple coat with white buttons on the right shoulder.

“Too much?” he asked as he held the heavy coat.

Toshi shook his head. He was looking at a white sleeveless shirt, dark grey pants, grey boots, and a red cape.

“Not enough”

“Hmm…” Ponce threw the coat over his shoulder. He grabbed a ruffled white shirt and black pants. 

Bell grabbed a blue gingham shirt, a brick red puffy vest, a dark blue denim jacket, matching denim pants, and white sneakers.

—-

December 17

6:35 PM

Now in costume, Bell, Ponce and Toshi walked to the Hot Rod train station in the middle of town. Several animals joined them— a bright green mantis in a blue dress and black glasses, a black cat in a yellow jumpsuit, and a brown and white starling in a red shirt and black pant-boots.

The animals showed their IDs to the Atlantic herring at the ticker. She carelessly swiped each ID, pink glitter falling off her lightning bolt jumpsuit. Whatever gets her paid…

The six animals took their seats in the dining car. The car was decorated with faded floral curtains and beige scratchy rugs. The table was carved out of dark wood and had a black and pink sunset tablecloth.

The train whistled as it rolled down the rails.

“Welcome...to the Radical Spacial Murder Mystery Dinner!” the conductor called out in a grandiose manner. “It’s a radically tubular time! Our dinner tonight is a seven layer dip appetizer, warm stroganoff noodles for dinner, and a decadent chocolate cake for dessert! It’s all to die for”

“So what are you here for?” The cat asked everyone. “We finished our finals, what about you guys?”

“Uhh….same here” Ponce said. Fuck, I hope they buy this. “We did online classes all semester”

“Oh cool! What major?” the mantis asked them.

Bell and Toshi looked at Ponce. Might as well add on to this….tale.

“Music theory” Bell wiped some sweat off her forehead. 

Toshi coughed

“Interior design”

“Sports media for me” Ponce continued. “What about you three?”

“Mortuary science for me” the starling chirped. “Gretchen here is in biochemistry and Jonah’s taking robotics. Oh, and I’m Clay!”

“Nice meeting you, Clay'' Ponce nodded and held his hand out. “I’m Ponce. He’s Toshi, and she’s Bell”

“Howdy”

“Hey”

The lights flickered slightly. Footsteps echoed through the other cars. What the hell? 

The lights flickered again as the train came to a grinding halt. The power shut off, leaving everyone in the dark.

Bell, Ponce and Toshi digged for their phones in their costume pockets. But just as they found them, the lights were finally on.

Gretchen and Jonah screamed so hard the glass cracked. 

Clay was sitting still in his seat. His head was thrown back and his eyes were wide open and pitch black. His tongue rolled back in his throat. The bird’s body was still warm, and his neck was twisted to the left. Pink sparkles trailed down his exposed neck feathers.

“Damnit! When the guide said this dinner is to die for, I didn’t think we would actually die for it!” Jonah hollered. 

Gretchen couldn’t say anything. She felt Clay’s arms for a pulse— shit, there is none.

“Wait a minute…” Ponce took a better look at the starling before him. “Look at the glitter, everyone”

The five remaining animals looked closer at both sides of Clay’s neck.

“Glitter? That does fit the theme…” Jonah nodded. “A little too well”

“No, wait! I learned about this in high school” Gretchen pointed out. “Mythicals shed glitter instead of fur or feathers”

“Yeah but what would a mythical want to do with a simple train ride?” Bell pointed out. “Wait, do any mythicals go to Mon Uni?”

“Not at all” Gretchen shook her head. “Most of them attend university in the New New England area. I should know I’m from Hailavadia myself, that’s in Massachusetts. So it's not any of our classmates…”

“Maybe it was someone from the Allegory Academy” Toshi had an idea. “In my philo— no wait, my _psychology_ class from, uh freshman year, I learned mythicals that get kicked out of there, they usually go mad and get into trouble”

“Yeah but usually just petty stuff like graffiti or vandalism” Jonah shook his head. “Only the adults go around killing other animals”

Gretchen was busy cutting the tablecloth with her pincers so she could cover up Clay’s body.

“But who….” Ponce was pondering. 

The group was trying to crack this case before it hatched.

“Hey what about the receptionist!” Gretchen raised a pincer. “She had glitter on herself”

“Yeah but that was part of a costume” Bell shook her head. “Wait what species is she? I know she looks like a fish…”

“Oh, that was Lilianna,” Jonah pointed out. “She’s a herring, a geology major and Clay’s ex-girlfriend.”

“Why’d they break up?” Toshi asked the older animals.

“Just a lack of compatibility” Gretchen shook her head, her auburn low pigtails and antennae shaking. “It happens a lot here. Just like in New New England”

Footsteps echoed through the other cars. 

“We shouldn’t go through that car,” Ponce pointed at the open door. “The suspect would be in there, waiting on us”

“Good point” Toshi agreed. 

The group made their way to the front car and slammed the door. The train was still rattling.

“Did we see anyone else board the car?” Jonah asked the group.

Bell shook her head

“No, just us. Maybe it was the conductor!”

Gretchen shook her head

“The train’s still running, and the model is too old to run automatically. It’s _not_ the conductor”

The train came to a halt. A bell dinged in the air

“We’re sorry, but the Nineteen Eighties Murder Mystery Dinner has to make an emergency stop” the automated voice said. “Please stay tight duuuudes”

The five animals looked outside through each window. The train had stopped near one of the city bridges. Snow was light in the air, bushes were rustling, and a few homeless animals were stabbing each other over opioids.

A loud banging was heard on the roof. The group looked up at the noise.

“What the hell?” they thought.

Outside, on the roof of the train…

A pale green and white dragon was looking out for anyone else in her way. She had wavy magenta hair in a half bun, glaring pink eyes and sharp white fangs. Her colorful opalescent wings flapped in the air and she glanced down at the latch.

“I think the suspect is outside,” Jonah looked up. “I heard something banging. We should check it out”

“Good idea,” Gretchen said as she grabbed a chair. The mantis positioned her chair below the latch and reached up to undo the locks.

Bell grabbed a ladder from the corner. She and Ponce extended it while Toshi watched Jonah climb up onto the roof.

The trio made their way up as well and saw their opponent. She was a young dragon around their age. She was wearing a damaged school uniform— short ripped red skirt, torn up black blouse with a white collar, a white fluffy coat, and scuffed up black boots. Despite the exposed skin, she wasn’t bothered at all by the snow.

“Greaaaat” the dragon hissed. “There’s more of you”

“That doesn’t matter. Why did you kill our friend?” Jonah hissed at the child before him. His ears moved back and he exposed his claws.

“Oh, that was your friend? Hm. You common animals are all the same to me” the dragon scoffed. She was filing her nails while rolling her eyes.

“Oh look who’s talking!” Bell barked at her. “At least we don’t run around killing random animals for the fun of it!”

The dragon hissed then grabbed Bell by her popped collar.

“We don’t kill for fun, stupid, we kill to show a point! The point that us mythicals are superior!” 

Bell shoved the dragon off herself. She threw her off the top of the train, but unfortunately, the dragon latched onto the edge. She crawled back up with a hiss, brushing the snow off her clothing.

“Nice try” the mythical hissed. “It’s gonna take more than a good throw to overpower me”

Ponce pulled some rocks out of his pocket and chucked them at the dragon.

She batted them away with her tail.

“I’ve been in _better_ fights” she scoffed.

Toshi leaped towards her and pinned her down by the throat. She bent her leg and kicked him in the stomach.

The ferret groaned and clutched his torso from the pain. Jonah and Gretchen blocked him away from the dragon for his own safety.

Bell leaped back inside the train car while Jonah and Gretchen tried to keep the dragon away from the entrance.

Ponce climbed down the ladder as well.

There it is!

The two children grabbed a few folding chairs before scaling back up.

“What the hell, guys!” Toshi yelled as he took his scarf off. He threw the scarf into a lasso and caught the draconid by her right wing.

She tried to claw herself free but stumbled on her footing. Damn these icy train tops, she thought to herself.

“Finish her off!” Gretchen yelled as she kept an eye out for help in sight.

Bell and Ponce snuck up behind her and whacked her twice with the folding chairs. She fell unconscious and collapsed on the cold hard train top. 

The beaver checked her pulse quick— yep, still alive. Phew. Now she won’t be tried for second degree murder. She dug through her coat for anything she could find— a phone, a wallet, and some keys.

Ponce grabbed the red pleather wallet and pulled out some cards— the dragon’s name was Emilia Daenerys Aries and she was a sixth grader at Allegory Academy.

“Let’s just leave her here” Toshi shook his head. “Someone else will deal with her”

Bell shook her head

“And have us charged with assault and battery? No thanks, y'all!”

“Good idea” Jonah nodded his head.

Jonah and Gretchen lifted up Emilia while the trio scaled down from the stopped train. 

“So where _is_ Allegory Academy?” the mantis asked the group.

“I think it’s in the middle of Pondovadia,” Jonah pointed out. “I had a friend in graphic design who did a project on 3D modelling its architecture”

The five animals snuck their way through the snow as they dodged countless traffic on the bridge. The snow was piling on as they tried to find Allegory Academy.

A-ha!

They saw a Greek styled building in the middle of the city. It towered into the sky. A nearby sign shone near the entrance.

“Allegory Academy: Providing Quality Education to the Divine Children”

The animals took a good look to make sure nobody would see them. Phew. No security cameras either. They gently laid Emilia down near the door and took off running.

The trio made their way to the nearest cafe possible— Indigo Elk! They grabbed the first table they could and sat down to catch their breath.

“Oh! Hi guys!” Amelie eagerly waved from the counter. Aside from her red uniform, she had on an adorable white beanie with a fairy light crown framing the rim.

“Jonah! Gretchen! Heyyy!”

Fuck.

“Oh, hey Amelie” Gretchen awkwardly chuckled as she looked away. “We had a rough night.”

“Ughhh same. I had some snob of a professor cuss me out over an expired coupon” the lemur sighed. “Anyways, we have some festive drinks on right now if you want something to warm you up!”

“Thanks, but'' Jonah heavily panted. “I just need a few minutes first”

Thirty minutes later…

The group was drinking their coffee drinks. Bell had a peppermint mocha surprise, Toshi sipped his cherry chocolate frappe, Ponce enjoyed his vanilla coconut latte, while Jonah and Gretchen stuck to plain black coffee.

Amelie sat down with them

“Rough night, huh?”

“Yeah” Gretchen explained to her. “Our murder mystery dinner got ruined by some mythical”

“Ugh” the lemur rolled her eyes, but joined in anyway. “I swear, these mythicals are getting worse by the week. Just last week our neighbors got robbed by a kappa!”

Toshi cringed

“Wait so why are mythicals attacking us now?”

“It’s a long story,” Amelie explained. “Klarisse told me that a mythical might be running for mayor next week. Apparently Mayor Canadendrum pissed them off so much for treating them equally instead of letting them walk all over him, that one of them decided to run himself.”

“I’ve seen this before back in Massachusetts,” the mantis said with a dreary look in her eyes. “I was the valedictorian of my high school _and_ I was supposed to go to one of the top New New England schools, but” she shook her head in sadness

“Some prissy little griffin paid off the school to let her snotty kid in while I was rejected in her place. I don't _hate_ Mon Uni, but it still hurts how mythicals just pay their way through. Hell, I heard at least forty mythicals committed fraud just to have their kids go to nicer universities”

“And this was legal?!” Ponce gasped in surprise.

She shook her head in sadness. "It's a fucked up world out there."

“Did Clay want to be buried or cremated?” Gretchen whispered to Jonah as she tapped her pincers against the table.

Jonah shook his head as he read the drink menu

“We have to cremate him here and send the ashes back to his family in Maryland. Only the mythicals can afford to be buried in the memorial grounds.”

“That doesn’t make sense” Ponce shook his head.

“I know” Gretchen was disappointed. “I came to West Virginia to get away from all the mythicals, not deal with them again!”

“But wait, what about Emilia?” Bell asked the college students. “I know she killed your friend, but I feel bad for trying to help her out”

Amelie patted her shoulder

“You three didn’t know about the mythical conflict up until now. Most animals don’t find out about the bulk of it until high school!”

“Wait a minute,” Jonah pointed out. “You three aren’t Mon Uni students?!”

Oh fuck.

The trio looked at each other

“No” Ponce confessed. “We’re actually in middle school”

“Wait, why _did_ you three sneak into a murder mystery dinner then!” the mantis sharply gasped.

“It was my birthday, and—“ Toshi tried to explain.

Bell interrupted him. “We thought it’d be a fun idea! Well, until the actual killing…”

Jonah sighed

“Yeah. The only one I can blame for Clay’s death is that fucking dragon”

—-

December 18

6:25 AM

“Check the mail….check the mail….”

Bell woke up in a cold sweat as she rolled off her mattress. Phew, it was just a weird voice in her head. But the mail? Probably something important.

She threw on her shoes, shoved her keys in her pajama pocket, and made her way out the door. 

The girl walked down the stairs and towards the apartment mail. She unlocked her mailbox and looked through— what the hell?

Bell pulled out a huge beige envelope with “DEOXIUM DNA TEST RESULTS!” written in red ink. 

She carefully opened the letter and sat down.

“I just got a letter, I wonder what it’s about” she hummed to herself in E major. 

Yep, this letter was the DNA test from just before the flood disaster of November. Looks about right; Isabelle Woodrow, 12 year old girl, North American beaver on both sides, blood type O negative. Mother; Alice Ann Woodrow nee Amour. Wait a minute….. the father… no it can’t be….

  
  
  
  



	18. Everybody Wants to Rule the World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bell finally meets her biological father.

Twelve years ago…

Oakland, West Virginia. A small city yet the county seat of Shenandoah County, a county in the mideastern section of the state. It’s an hour and a half away from Pondovadia. It’s a county with a 100% mammal population, 95% rodents. 98% of marriages are same-species due to chimeras being socially unacceptable there due to speciesist propaganda infesting the rural areas like E. Coli through unwashed lettuce. While usually insignificant, the town hosts a railroad festival in the spring. Let’s see what’s going on at one of the households today.

7:15 PM

“And you can just shove that whiskey bottle up your ass, Vincent!” the tall bright blue beaver snapped at her husband. She stormed out of the house and got into her station wagon, refusing to put on her seat belt. She slammed the gas pedal and headed towards the convenience store.

The parking lot was just about empty, with just her station wagon, a beaten up black pickup truck, and a flashy white sports car. The black pickup was familiar-- the only employee who worked after six, but the white sports car stood out.

The beaver angrily stormed inside after she flew out the car. Maybe some cheap wine and ice cream will emotionally help her out…

She looked around in the alcohol section. One bottle of wine is not going to turn her into her shitty husband, she thought to herself.

She looked at the various types of wine— merlot, chardonnay, zinfandel. Rose looked pretty good, let’s go with that one.

Another hand grabbed one of the champagne bottles. Hm?

The blue beaver glanced over at the other animal. He was a North American beaver, like her, but he looked completely different. He towered over her, had to be at least six feet. His fur was a clean shade of white, his eyes were rosy pink, and he had boyish freckles scattering his cheeks. His hair was curly and in lovely shades of pink and orange. He was wearing a loose brown hoodie and beige sweats with bright pink sneakers.

“Excuse me, miss?” the white beaver asked. His voice was calm and reassuring. He didn’t sound like he came from _this_ part of West Virginia.

“Yeah?” she asked him as she grabbed a bottle of rosé for herself.

The stranger asked her. “You don’t happen to know where the best hotel is here, do you?”

“Oh, well, we don’t really have _hotels_ here” the beaver tried her best to explain. “We just have low quality motels that cost only $15 to stay in for a reason”

“Interesting. I’m Joseph by the way” he introduced himself.

“I’m Alice. Alice Woodrow” she shook his hand. “Yknow, I know of a good place in town”

“Could you….show me?” Joseph got a bit flustered. “I think this town is rather charming.”

“....I could say the same about you” Alice winked at him. 

After paying for their booze, the duo headed over to one of the hotels and had carnal relations for the night. Little did Alice know, her life and failing marriage would change forever after that incident.

—

Twelve years later…

7:15 AM

Bell took the letter and ran back up to her apartment door. She energetically knocked on the door.

“Klarisse! KLARISSE!!!” she hollered. “KLARISSE, OPEN UP ALREADY!!!”

The older girl walked to the door and opened it up.

“What is it?” she asked her.

Bell ran inside and sat at the dining table. She placed the envelope down.

“.....I got my DNA test back from the school but something’s wrong with it” she sighed. She felt like she was ripped apart and devoured by vultures, then her corpse crushed by a speeding train.

Klarisse plucked the envelope and read the letter inside. 

“No, there’s nothing wrong with it” she shook her head.

“But— but the DNA results say Mayor Canadendrum is my father! That makes no sense! What happened?! Are we even sisters anymore!” Bell tried to argue. 

“Well, _half_ sisters...” Klarisse darted her eyes away. “We still have the same mom of course, but she and Joseph had a one night stand and that's how you were, well for a better word, conceived. And trust me. You’re very lucky he was a beaver too. Y'know, she told me this one time that she planned to give you up for adoption if you were a chimera”

“Is— no wait, that’s why you never took me to Vincent’s house over holiday break after we moved here!!” Bell realized. “But wait...Why did Mom cheat on him?”

Klarisse shook her head. She grabbed a cup of coffee before sitting down and mixing some Bailey’s Irish Cream into it.

“As far as I know...she was fed up with Vincent’s bullshit” Klarisse’s hands trembled as she sipped from the warm mug. “Yet Vincent had multiple affairs behind her back and even had children, but most of the fucking idiots in that town blamed everything on her like the scumbags they are. Vincent cheats, it was her fault. Alice cheats, her fault. I had to get away. I worked my ass off in high school to get where I was, getting my education in a better place. And now look at us! We’re in the fucking state capital, we moved on past that hell and I hope I never have to go back there again...”

Bell frowned and raised an eyebrow

“Are you drunk?” she asked her sister.

Klarisse sighed

“A little bit. But yes, Bell, I took you in because I couldn’t handle any more of the bullshit in Oakland, and I didn’t want you corrupted by their toxic nature, with all the double standards and speciesism and close minded bigotry”

“Wow, I” Bell stammered a bit. “I can’t believe any of this. But the divorce?”

“Oh, well, despite what the fucking assholes in Oakland say” the older girl explained. “We weren’t the reason they divorced. It was because they were just awful animals to each other, and there’s still a fucking stigma against divorce back there. Of course, they just had to wait until I turned eighteen. They dumped you on me because they knew you’d turn out like both of them if you stayed in Oakland”

“Sounds like that was the only good decision they made then…” Bell laid her chin in her hands.

Klarisse was halfway through her cup

“Yeah. Is there anything else you’d like to know?”

“Yeah, is it okay if I go see the mayor for myself?” Bell asked her. “I think there’s a press conference today, and I know my friends wouldn’t be interested in going to one”

“Sure” Klarisse said as she washed her cup in the sink. “But be careful out there. Take some pepper spray and a Swiss army knife.”

“Thanks!” Bell grinned.

——

1:00 PM

Bell sat by herself inside the town square subway. Fortunately, none of the other animals noticed her. She tightly held her backpack in her arms. Her heart raced as she watched the cold grey walls. She didn’t look at her phone the whole time, dreading that her friends would blow up at her. But how the hell was she going to tell them about her biological father…. Fuck it, she can wait until the conference is over.

The subway came to a grinding halt. Most of the animals left in an orderly fashion and headed up the stairs.

The local park was stunning. Every tree was decorated with bright blue lights, shiny silver tinsel and golden gradient ornaments. Bell followed several animals to the riverfront’s seating. She took a seat in the second row, right at the end so she could leave easier. The seats were heated, leaving a warm welcome to the press conference. 

All the seats were gradually occupied. Mayor Canadendrum and his aide took the stage. The white beaver stood behind a brown box with the familiar Pondovadia city logo plastered in front.

Some animals in front started to film the gathering.

“Yes, hellooooo to the beautiful city of Pondovadia” Joseph hammed up his greeting. His smile beamed as the audience clapped for him. “I’d like to thank each and every one of you for coming to this conference”

“Is this about the illegitimate children?” one of the animals, a colorful rainbow trout, in the crowd asked.

Joseph facepalmed

“No, my good sir, this is _not_ about my children for once!”

Bell sunk in her seat and blushed. This was so pointless, she thought to herself. But she couldn’t leave now, everybody would see her!

“No, this is about the board of education” the white beaver continued on as the crowd gasped. “Superintendent Ambiette had to be let go after he made several speciesist comments against the chimera community on his social media accounts”

Bell cringed from what she was hearing. 

“Sir, I don’t think he _meant_ to be a speciesist” one of the animals, a grey and orange tiger-wolf chimera, raised his paw. 

“Mr. Passage” Jonesy butted into the conference. “are you aware he made these comments about his own students?”

Passage also sunk into his seat in embarrassment. 

“May we see the comments?” a grey moth asked.

Joseph nodded and pulled up the unedited screenshots onto his screen.

“And before anyone asks, no, I didn’t censor them,” he warned them. “Just because I’m showing them unedited doesn’t mean I’m endorsing his behavior”

—

Pondovadia Superintendent

LEE-AMBIETTE (✓):

just Finished data on school population— DAMN!! a lotta mongrels this year lmao

has anyone ever noticed how mythicals never have any mutt children? So Interesting!

now where would a mythical and commoner baby be registered? do they send the mythical half to Allegory or the common half to my schools? nah im just fuckin— i got a lotta half breeds to deal with Anyways!!! xx

—

The audience flinched in disgust from the bile they were reading.

Joseph turned off the screen. He announced to his crowd.

“Since the public school year is at half-term, the board of education will hire a new superintendent, and their term will be effective January 13. Any questions?”

“What species was Ambiette?” somebody hollered to him.

“He was an eastern grey squirrel,” Joseph looked at his notes. “Anyone else?”

“Was he hopped up on Xanax?” asked another animal.

The mayor shook his head 

“That’s classified information but yes, drug use was suspected”

More and more animals bombarded him with personal questions irrelevant to the topic.

“Are you going to run for mayor next year?”  
“Why are you a terrible mayor?”  
“A mythical could do your job better…”  
“What about the children?”  
"Think of the children"  
“How are your children?”  
“Why did you walk out on so many women?”

“What the hell is wrong with you?!”

Joseph shook his head. The crowd was silent. Fuck, he was imagining it all. I wonder why, he thought to himself…

“This, uh, concludes the press conference, thank you” the mayor wiped some sweat off his face. “I’ll take more questions in a few minutes”

He quickly left the stage to grab a water bottle, then chugged all sixteen ounces in one sitting.

After most of the crowd left…

Bell was still seated. She pulled her envelope out of her backpack.

The girl got up and walked over to Joseph and his aide. Jonesy whispered to his boss, who nodded in agreement.

“Hey I think this kid wants something from you. We’d be assholes if we told her to fuck off”

“Oh, hi mayor!” she waved to him.

“Hey kiddo, nice meeting you” Joseph held his hand out.

The two beavers shook hands as the aide watched their meeting

“So. Any reason you came by to this press conference yourself?” Joseph awkwardly chuckled and looked away from everyone.

“Oh, well, to see speciesists get what they’re coming!” Bell laughed a bit. Fuck, that didn’t sound right, she thought to herself.

“Spoken like a true Canadendrum!” Joseph smiled a bit before whispering to himself. “Wait why did I say that out loud?”

Bell handed the envelope to him.

“Because I’m a Canadendrum too!”

She watched as the mayor carefully read the DNA test. His composure didn’t change in the slightest. He _knew_ this would happen after all.

“Well, from one Canadendrum to another” Joseph said as he placed the paper back in the envelope and handed it back. He patted her on the back “welcome to the family, Isabell!”

“I mean, you can just call me Bell” Bell chuckled a bit. “So do I call y’all dad, or mayor, or—“

“Aw fuck it, just call me whatever you like, Bell!” the mayor laughed in amusement. “So how about we all spend the day together?”

“Sure! I already told my friends I’d be busy today” Bell grinned a bit. 

“Mayor, don’t you think this _might_ be a bad idea? You know how the press is….” Jonesy tried to warn him.

Joseph shook his head

“Jonesy, please! The press covers the two of us every day, I don’t get to meet my bastard kids that often!”

“Hey!” Bell yelled.

“Sorry!” Joseph had a hand behind his head. “It is what illegitimate kids are called”

——

1:45 PM

Ponce knocked loudly on Toshi’s door.

“Toshi!! Open up!!” the chimera hollered.

The ferret opened the door

“What’s up?” he asked his friend.

“Did you hear anything at all from Bell yet?” Ponce yelled in a panic.

“What? No!” Toshi shook his head. “I asked Klarisse but she said Bell went to a press conference!”

“What? No fucking way” Ponce laughed and pressed his hand against the doorframe. “The Bell I know wouldn’t go to something THAT boring!”

“Well she said something about family?” Toshi tried to recap what he was told. “Apparently it was an emergency”

“Oh, right” the chimera shook his head. “You wanna watch a movie or something like that?”

—-

Joseph, Jonesy and Bell hopped into the white sports car. The mayor started his car up then backed up before heading onto the city highway. He put on some vaporwave as he drove down the endless highway.

“So, how about lunch? I’m thinking Thai myself” he asked his passengers.

“Really? I love Thai!” Bell perked up. “Well, Bangkok’s Finest is better than Thai One On if you ask me”

“Sure, I guess” Jonesy shrugged. “I’ll try to make sure nobody photographs us”

After at least forty minutes, the animals finally found decent parking. Sure, it was three blocks away from the Thai restaurant and required a ton of parallel parking, but Pondovadia parking isn’t easy. You think a college city would have more parking available for even the mayor, but not today.

The trio were talking with each other as they headed down the blocks.

“So how many siblings _do_ I have now?” Bell asked the older animals.

“Eleven on my end” Joseph said with beaming confidence. “You’re the only girl as far as I know”

The animals walked inside Bangkok’s Finest. The place smelled like searing vegetables and freshly cut chili peppers. It was decorated with all sorts of colorful elephant decor, from posters to sculptures to even murals on the wall. Several animals were already eating their lunch. Some whispered to each other while others were minding their own damn business. They walked up to the counter.

“Table for three, my good ma’am!” Joseph waved and shook the cashier’s hand.

The animal behind the counter, a pangolin with pretty white scales, had a flat face. She sighed

“Table seven” and pointed over to the empty table.

The trio walked over to table seven and took their seats. Joseph got on his phone and looked online for the menu.

“So what about drinks? I’m thinking of red wine myself, we can all split it!”

“You are _not_ ordering alcohol for a child, Joseph” Jonesy chastised him. “And besides, I’m more of a beer guy”

“It’s fine” Bell shrugged as she looked at the menu too. “Thai iced tea looks pretty good, I might get that!”

A young looking tiger in a waitress uniform walked up to them.

“So can I get you three something to drink-- oh my goodness, hi mayor” She changed her pace.

“Don’t think of taking any pictures of us” Jonesy barked at her.

“Hey!” Joseph scolded him. “Jonesy, I can handle this myself. Yes, hi, we’ll take a glass of the Tears for Fears wine, one Thai iced tea, and--”

The golden retriever sighed and blushed slightly as he looked away from the waitress.  
“....A blond Big Timber”

“Sure thing” the tigress finished writing down the drink orders on her tablet. She walked back over to the kitchen.

The trio looked at each other for a bit.

“So, how about some appetizers?” Joseph asked the group. “I’m thinking spring rolls myself”

“I always liked the appetizer treasure myself” Bell brought up as she kept eying up the menu. “Variety is more fun for me”

Jonesy said as he glanced at the lunch menu “I think I’ll get the dragon egg dumplings with extra cilantro”

The tiger waitress came by

“So, did you figure out what you wanted for appetizers?”

“Yes, we did” Joseph calmly nodded. “One order of dragon eggs, one of the spring rolls and an appetizer treasure, please”

“Mhm” the tigress was busy writing everything down. “Entrees?”

The trio quietly looked at each other and shook their heads

“We’re not ready yet, miss” Jonesy spoke up.

“Sure thing!” the waitress finished writing down the appetizers. “I’ll be back in a few with everything so far”

Joseph thanked her then watched as she left for the kitchen.

“So kiddo, how’s Pondovadia been treating you before all this?” he asked his child.

Bell’s eyes lit up. “Pretty great! I’m never bored here!”

“Same here” the mayor nodded along. “Y’know, I actually tried to get into office in Pennsylvania, but I kept losing to a bunch of mythicals”

“And I tried the same but in Maryland. Hell, western Maryland still has sunrise towns. Did you learn about that in school yet, Bell?” Jonesy asked her.

“Well, not in school, no” Bell shook her head. “But my friend’s dad got shooed out of a Maryland town for being a chimera”

Joseph frowned and raised an eyebrow.

“But sunrise towns usually affect all ‘common’ species, since when did they target chimeras first?”

“Probably a new law” Jonesy sighed. He shook his head in defeat. “Maryland’s laws have been getting stricter since Governor Ophicius won last-”

The tigress waitress cheerfully called out

“Here’s your order!~”

She carefully sat down each drink and appetizer order. 

“So, ready to order entrees, mayor?” the tigress asked as she pulled out her tablet and stylus.

Everyone was still looking at their menus.

“I sure am, miss!” Joseph flashed another toothy grin. “I’ll take the sirloin drunken noodles with extra spice, please. What about you two?”

“Can I get the sea livestock pad thai with extra peanuts?” Bell asked her.

Jonesy finally thought of what to get

“And I’ll get the garlic stir fry, thanks”

\----

An hour after everybody got lunch….

The three animals walked inside towards the mayor’s office. The place was beautifully decorated-- a shiny white chandelier with blue and gold ribbons, an oak desk in the center, a chair with a red tartan cushion, some bookshelves filled with all sorts of West Virginia history, and a window showing the outskirts of Pondovadia.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Joseph said as he sat down to check his laptop. He ranted to himself in a fit of annoyance “Greaaat, the Allegory Academy principal. Just who I wanted to hear back from. And now he’s calling me out for what, a lack of funds? I already gave his school the budget he needed for the rest of my tenure! If I gave him any more funds I’d be forced to resign by the governor! The public school needs funds too but noooo according to this fuckface I have to give it ALL to the mythicals because ‘ooooo we’re more important than those commoners’. Ugh.”

“Wait, what’s Allegory Academy?” Bell was confused. She sat down on another chair and adjusted her backpack.

Jonesy took a seat as well and explained to her.

“They’re a private school for the mythicals. In fact it’s the only mythical institute in the entire state”

“But why do mythicals need so much money though? I thought most of them were extremely rich” Bell asked.

The golden retriever shook his head  
“I don’t _know._ Nothing is ever good enough for mythicals, unless it screws us over commoners”

He pulled out a cold peanut butter smoothie from the minifridge under the desk. Jonesy slowly sipped at the sweet and salty treat.

The door swung wide open. A frazzled pink beaver stomped into the room. Her hair was cut into a messy black pixie. She was wearing a tight black miniskirt, a loose black crop top, a grey zip-up hoodie, and short black boots. Her makeup was messy and she was fed up.

“Joseph! Where the heck were you?!” she screamed at him.

“Parla, what are you doing here” Joseph groaned in annoyance at her. “I’m _trying_ to work right now”

“I was wondering where you were, geez! And what the heck is that, Jonesy?!” the pink beaver barked at the three of them.

“A smoothie?” Jonesy innocuously suggested as he held up the peanut butter smoothie in his hands. 

“Not that, stupid!” Parla facepalmed and shook her head. “The kid!”

“Oh, well, she’s my daughter” Joseph cheerfully introduced Bell to her. 

Parla went quiet before snapping “Oh… What in the world is your problem, Joseph?! I told you well over a dozen times to stay out of those bastards’ lives!”

“Parla, PLEASE” Joseph yelled back. “Don’t take it out on any of MY children! I’m the one you should be pissed off at!”

“Yeah, what the fuck is your damage?!” Bell yelled as well.

“Language!” Parla hollered at Bell. “You are a lady, now act like one!”

“I don’t think yelling at random children is ladylike either, but y'all do you I guess” Bell shrugged.

“The nerve of this child!” Parla scoffed and shook her head. She paced back and forth

“Joseph, I thought you said were done with this...scandal”

“Will you let me _explain_?!” Joseph was on edge. He wanted to explode already.

“I had all the DNA tests done consensually, I try to get to know my kids so they can be part of my inheritance, and all you’ve done is put me down! What did you want me to do, huh? Just pretend they don’t exist? Leave multiple children not knowing their own father?”

Parla took a deep breath

“That was exactly what _I_ wanted. Why should I have to care about children that aren’t even mine in the first place”

“It’s called empathy you cold hearted asshole” Bell snarked in the middle. 

“I said stay out of this conversation!” Parla snapped again as she continued to rant at Joseph. “Why did you keep cheating on me!”

“Because I don’t love you! I never loved you! I wanted to divorce you for years now, but you wouldn’t let me! All you do is put me down and make me feel like I’m the bad guy over anything I do!” Joseph screamed at her. 

Parla screamed as she tackled him.

“But that’s because you’re a bad husband! And besides, we can’t divorce! The animals of West Virginia will think we’re weak and can’t hold up a marriage! And besides, our sons will hate us for divorcing!” she snarled at him as she grabbed a lamp off the table.

Joseph pushed her away

“I didn’t even want to marry you in the first place! Your asshole parents are the ones who arranged our marriage, only because we’re the same species!”

“Oh don’t you dare bring them into this!” Parla threw off the lamp’s shade and smashed the lightbulb to pieces. Shards of glass flew through the air and onto the floor. “They said that all animals _have_ to marry the same species as them or their kids will be all messed up”

Jonesy rushed Bell outside of the office and ran into a different room. They sat down on some couches.

“What the hell is their problem?” she asked them as she grabbed a book to read. It was a story about a wolf dealing with the murder of a drama club student.

“It’s complicated” the golden retriever tried to explain. He took a deep breath in

“Well, Joseph and Parla hate each other but they had to marry anyway because they’re the same species”

“That doesn’t make sense” Bell shook her head. “Interspecies marriage is legal”

“Yes but media coverage is different by the state” Jonesy pulled out a textbook on animal history. “If you’re in New York or California, sure, marry a different species, hell sometimes it’s even encouraged. A lot of chimeras gain advantages of each species they have DNA from. But a state like West Virginia, well, a lot of animals still think chimeras are wrong”

“Even ones like a dog-fox chimera or an eagle-seagull?” Bell asked. She looked at the textbook as well. 

Jonesy opened the textbook. He looked up a section on interspecies marriage

“Unfortunately, yes. That’s why incest cases happen so much around in the state. Many animals my age would rather end up with ‘purebred’ children that they screw each others’ siblings or cousins instead. Horrifying, isn’t it?”

Bell shuddered

“Yeah. A while back I met one of my classmates and her parents were brother and sister…But my classmates, we treat her the same as anyone else, chimera or not. Except…”

“There’s a speciesist classmate, isn’t there?” the golden retriever sighed.

“Ugh, yeah” Bell groaned as she rolled her hands into fists. “She always puts down everyone in my grade for no reason, sometimes for not being perfect like her, sometimes over something as petty as their species. _She called one of my friends a mutt_. I know I shouldn’t say that word but—“

“Well, I hate you too, Joseph!” Parla hollered back at Joseph before storming out of the office in a fit.

The two remaining animals looked at each other, then decided to head back inside the office.

Joseph had a defeated look in his watery eyes

“I’ve had it with her, Jonesy. When my tenure is over, I’m finally divorcing her”

“Are you sure about this, sir?” the golden retriever asked him. “Wouldn’t it be wiser to divorce her _now_?”

“While I’m still the mayor? Fuck no!” Joseph shook his head no. “Do you know how much the news would go after me for that? That’s why I have to do it after I leave. Pondovadia means the world to me, but I don't want my citizens to suffer from my marriage. ”

“Wait a second, who’s gonna be the next mayor?” Bell asked both of them.

“We have _no_ idea, kiddo” Joseph groaned in defeat. “I just hope they’re anything but a mythical supremacist…”

“A what?” Bell asked. 

“Mythical supremacists” Jonesy explained to her. “They’re animals who think mythicals are better than commoners. And they’re not always mythicals too. Some commoners can be mythical supremacists too”

Bell shook her head

“That doesn’t make sense. What would a commoner gain from allying with a mythical?”

“Usually sex or money” Joseph joined in the discussion. “And even then, most commoners say it’s not worth it. The money is tight and the sex is mid-rate”

“Huh. Hey, it’s getting late for me” Bell said as she looked outside. The sky had already gone dark and several buildings were already lit up. “Can I just pop by here another time?”

“Sure, kiddo” Joseph said as he turned off his laptop. “Just call me if you need anything”

"Will do!" Bell waved as she left the mayor's office. 

\----

10:15 PM

Bell knocked loudly on the apartment door. She heard it open

“There you are!” Ponce sighed in relief as he pulled her into a tight embrace. “Toshi and I were wondering where you went!”

“Yeah, we thought you left the state or something” Toshi snarked a bit. “So what happened with you?”

“Well, I finally met my dad for the first time” Bell explained what was going on. She pulled out the DNA test results and showed them both.

The duo looked at the paper before them. They were silent as they looked up and down the white sheet. 

“That….is awesome, Bell!” Ponce excitedly gushed. “I mean, the MAYOR?! You don’t have to take bullshit from anyone!”

“Not really” Bell frowned a bit. “The mythicals would be all over my ass”

“Bell, they’re just mythicals. It’s like two hundred of us to one of them” Toshi tried to reassure her. “And besides, what reasonable adult would try to beat up a government official’s child?”

“Good point,” Bell agreed. “Anyways, how should we spend the rest of winter break?”

“Well, we could watch the 89 Days season finale,” Toshi pointed out. “It just came out today!”

“Really? Awesome!” Ponce was beaming in happiness. He dragged Bell inside the apartment and closed the door. The trio ran into Toshi’s bedroom, locked the door and started up the 89 Days finale.

Snow piled up outside as the children got comfortable inside. They bundled up in cherry blossom print blankets. This was going to be a great winter break.

Meanwhile, Joseph and Jonesy had to start working on their plans-- divorce Parla without the media knowing and keep the mythicals away from taking over the city capitol.

To be continued...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading part 1, everybody!
> 
> Part 2 is up and better than ever!


End file.
